Emerging Technologies

Books in the AI Era: A Perspective from Publishers | Eva Congil, José Calafell Salgado and Ana del Arco Blanco

Fundación Germán Sánchez Ruipérez
video

At PARIX IA 2026, held in Madrid on 18 March 2026, Eva Congil of Anagrama, José Calafell Salgado of Grupo Planeta and Ana del Arco Blanco of Editorial Comares discuss how publishers are responding to artificial intelligence. Moderated by Arantza Larrauri, the conversation distinguishes analytical, generative and agentic AI before examining how publishing companies are introducing these technologies through internal committees, training programmes and practical experimentation.

Current applications concentrate primarily on improving processes rather than replacing people. Publishers are testing AI in purchasing, warehousing, data analysis, marketing briefs, commercial copy, text correction and the preliminary screening of manuscript submissions. These tools can process large volumes of information and identify structural problems, but the speakers advocate patience with generative applications, careful testing and continued human responsibility for editorial decisions.

Governance, transparency and copyright are central concerns. Comares has published guidelines explaining which uses are permitted, which must be declared and which are unacceptable. Linguistic assistance may be appropriate, while generating an author’s intellectual contribution or uploading an unpublished manuscript to an external model is not. The panel also considers licensing publisher content to technology companies, stressing that publishers frequently protect rights belonging to authors and cannot make such decisions independently.

Looking ahead, the speakers argue that technical training alone will not be sufficient. Publishing teams need deep knowledge of the business, intellectual curiosity, critical thinking and a strong humanistic education to distinguish data from information, knowledge and wisdom. Their priorities include overcoming fear, learning and unlearning, strengthening connections between European and Latin American publishing, and using AI to automate secondary tasks while preserving the essential cultural and editorial purpose of the profession.

Original title: El Libro en la Era de la IA: Una Mirada desde las Editoriales

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