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A local bookseller is taking a stand against artificial intelligence, and it’s catching on in bookstores beyond Portland.
John Hart, the owner of Always Here Books on North Williams Avenue, has been circulating an open letter addressed to News Corp, HarperCollins Publishers, and the wider publishing industry, that takes a firm stance against selling AI-generated books.
“As booksellers, we reject the assumption made by book publishers like HarperCollins that we would willingly play a part in what they have envisioned as the AI-powered future of our industry,” Hart wrote. “Instead, we recognize the power we wield in refusing to do so. In solidarity with authors and the countless others who are responsible for bringing books to life, we refuse to knowingly promote AI works or stock AI-generated books on our shelves.”
More than 30 bookstores have signed on to Hart’s letter. It’s mainly small, independent bookstores in the Portland area, such as Wallace Books, Grand Gesture Books and Belmont Books, but some are as far away as North Carolina and Florida. Always Here is a queer bookstore located at 4555 N Williams Ave.
Hart wrote the letter after hearing News Corp CEO Robert Thomson, the parent company of HarperCollins, describe published books as “a vast amount of unique repurposable data.”
Thomsen made the comment on News Corp’s third quarter fiscal earnings call on May 7. He was discussing the potential impact of AI on the “news and intelligence businesses” and touting News Corp’s depth of content and calling it an “AI inputs company.”
“I found it galling to describe the thousands of authors that HarperCollins publishes, and all of the work that they put into their books, as ‘data’ that they can ‘repurpose.’ It is disgusting to me,” Hart says. “Something about it brought me to a place of rage and so I decided to do something with that rage energy.”
One notable omission in the signatories: Powell’s Books, which faced backlash in September for using AI-generated imagery on T-shirts depicting wolves and cats standing on books. Hart and Always Here Books were vocal in that criticism on Substack. Hart did not bother sending the open letter to Powell’s Books to sign.
Through a spokesperson, Powell’s declined to comment for this story. Hart also hasn’t heard back from News Corp or HarperCollins, but doesn’t expect to.
“This is putting words to what a lot of us are feeling,” Hart says. “I wrote a lot of words to say, essentially, ‘fuck AI.’ It has no place in our industry and we don’t want it forced into our bookstores. Maybe it will do some good for us to take a stand.”
