At least three of the Big Five US book publishers—HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, and Hachette—have been quietly using generative AI tools in their publishing processes without public disclosures or author consent, according to a WIRED report published on October 9, 2026. More than two dozen workers, speaking anonymously to avoid jeopardizing their jobs, said LLMs like Claude and ChatGPT are being used for publicity copy, back-cover text, cover art, emails to literary agents, and marketing materials, often at the direction of executives.
The report also reveals that some editorial staffers believe the widely publicized cases of authors accused of using AI—such as Hachette's horror novel Shy Girl or Macmillan's crime thriller Call Me, I'll Hide the Body—are just the tip of the iceberg. "Every single imprint has a story of someone very esteemed who had a book canceled because of blatant AI use" without ever making the news, one editor told WIRED.
What publishers are actually using AI for
According to interviews with workers at HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, and Hachette, one of the most common uses of LLMs so far is generating publicity copy—text that readers see on Amazon, Goodreads, and back covers, and that is used to pitch books to booksellers, journalists, and critics. At least one HarperCollins division has been "all in" on AI since gaining software licenses, including AI-generated marketing videos.
A Big Five publicist told WIRED that using AI for publicity copy is "short-sighted," adding that publicists have a duty to engage in good faith with readers and media who have a low tolerance for AI-generated pitches. Meg Reid, publisher of independent Hub City Press, said LLM-written marketing and publicity "feels pretty inevitable" for the Big Five, predicting a bigger shift between corporate publishers seeking efficiencies and smaller publishers insisting that humans are the whole point.
- HarperCollins purchased Claude licenses from Anthropic months ago and later added ChatGPT and Jasper, an agentic platform for marketing workflows.
