How You Should Be Using AI in Publishing Right Now

So much has changed since I first wrote about AI in September 2023. In just a short time, companies like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google have launched models with capabilities far beyond simple text and image generation. Today, AI can produce entire videos with synchronized audio, execute complex tasks through autonomous agents, and even operate within persistent workspaces that simulate entire knowledge workers. What was once a tool for improving efficiency is quickly becoming a collaborator—and, in some cases, a replacement—for entire job functions. And this is still the least “intelligent” AI we’ll use for the rest of our lives.

The impact on publishing—and on society at large—is potentially revolutionary and increasingly disruptive. The pace of change is accelerating. What AI can do today is significantly augment your personal work. What it may be able to do tomorrow could fundamentally reshape what we mean by “work” or whether we need to work at all.

Yet amid this technological shift, our industry retains something rare and resilient: the analog product. The printed book—the physical object at the center of our work—is not threatened by the tools we now use to create and market it. In fact, it may become more valuable, more intentional, and more human in contrast to a flood of synthetic content.

If you’re already using AI tools in your publishing workflow, you’ve probably seen dramatic results. Here are more than a dozen practical ways you, as a publishing professional, can start using AI right now.

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