BISG and BookNet Canada Launch the 2026 AI in the Book Industry Survey
Artificial intelligence continues to transform how work gets done across the book publishing ecosystem, from editorial and metadata management to marketing, production, discoverability, and manufacturing and supply chain operations.
To better understand how these changes are unfolding, the Book Industry Study Group (BISG) has partnered once again with BookNet Canada to launch the 2026 AI in the Book Industry Survey.
The survey is open to professionals across the North American book industry and seeks to capture current experiences, concerns, priorities, and expectations surrounding AI.
Whether you're all in on AI, all out, or somewhere in between, we want to hear from you.
This expanded survey seeks to capture how professionals and organizations across the American and Canadian book supply chains are approaching AI today, what has changed over the past year, and the concerns, opportunities, and experiences shaping adoption across different sectors.
Whether you're actively using AI tools, evaluating their potential, or developing AI-enabled products and services, or choosing not to use AI at all, your perspective will help create a more complete picture of how the industry is evolving.
Why Your Participation Matters
AI adoption continues to accelerate, but important questions remain around governance, copyright, transparency, workforce impact, and best practices. By gathering perspectives from across the publishing supply chain, BISG and BookNet Canada aim to provide the industry with reliable, data-driven insights that can inform future resources, educational programming, and industry guidance.
The survey is open to professionals working in publishing, bookselling, distribution, printing, libraries, technology providers, and related service organizations, as well as independent and freelance professionals serving the industry.
All responses are anonymous. Results will be shared later this year in a free public report examining how the North American book industry is navigating AI.
The survey takes approximately 10–15 minutes to complete and will be open through July 10, 2026.
Building on Last Year's Research
The 2026 survey builds on a research initiative conducted in 2025, which gathered responses from 559 professionals across the North American book industry.
That research revealed an industry that was actively exploring AI while approaching implementation thoughtfully. Nearly half of respondents reported using AI tools either personally or organizationally, with the most common applications focused on administrative tasks, marketing, audience engagement, and data analysis. At the same time, concerns about copyright and the use of protected content emerged as the industry's most significant challenge.
The findings were published earlier this year in the BISG and BookNet Canada white paper, AI in the Book Industry, which examined both the opportunities and concerns surrounding AI adoption across the publishing ecosystem.
As AI technologies continue to evolve, tracking changes in adoption, sentiment, and use cases over time has become increasingly important. The 2026 survey will help identify emerging trends, highlight areas of progress, and surface new challenges facing industry stakeholders.
Helping Shape the Future of AI in Publishing
The results of this year's survey will support BISG's ongoing work around AI, which is focused on fostering industry dialogue and developing practical resources to help organizations navigate AI responsibly and effectively.
The findings will contribute to future research, publications, and educational programming designed to help the industry better understand where AI is creating value and where additional collaboration and guidance may be needed.
The more voices represented, the more valuable the findings will be for the industry as a whole. If you work anywhere in the book publishing supply chain, we encourage you to participate and share the survey with your colleagues.
Join the Conversation
Interested in helping shape the industry's response to AI beyond the survey?
BISG's AI Working Group brings together professionals from across the publishing ecosystem to discuss emerging developments, share experiences, and identify opportunities for industry collaboration. Through September, the Working Group will continue meeting monthly as an informal discussion forum, providing a space for open conversation about the challenges and opportunities AI presents for the book industry.
This fall, the group will review the results of the 2026 survey and use those findings to help define future priorities, resources, and deliverables that can support the industry as AI adoption continues to evolve.
We welcome your participation. To join, e-mail info@bisg.org to express your interest and get on the mailing list for meeting invites, agendas, and other key communications
Thank you for helping BISG and BookNet Canada build a clearer understanding of how AI is shaping the future of the book industry.