A group of high-profile authors is demanding that publishers curb their use of artificial intelligence in book production.

An open letter, initially signed by writers like Lauren Groff, R.F. Kuang, and Dennis Lehane, asks publishers to commit to exclusively human-narrated audiobooks and to reject machine-generated books entirely.

The letter also pleads with publishers not to replace editors and other staff with AI tools or reassign them to glorified robot babysitting.

Authors accuse AI companies of “stealing” their work to train language models, profiting from unpaid labor that ironically makes the machines better at replacing them.

In the 24 hours following publication, the letter reportedly gained over 1,100 additional signatures, proving writers can still unite for a cause—especially when their paychecks are on the line.

The outcry comes as several authors pursue lawsuits against tech companies for unauthorized data scraping, although recent federal rulings have significantly undermined their legal arguments.

Despite this legal setback, the authors hope publishers will voluntarily agree not to replace flesh-and-blood creativity with algorithms that never sleep, unionize, or ask for royalties.