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Barnes & Noble may soon be stocking books that aren’t written by humans.
In other words, you can add books written by artificial intelligence to your bookshelf. In an interview with TODAY’s Jenna Bush Hager on May 18, CEO James Daunt said he would have “no problem” selling AI-written books in the chain’s more than 800 stores nationwide, but on the condition that it be transparent.
“Yes, in fact, I have no problem selling any book, as long as it’s not pretending or pretending to be something it’s not, and as long as it has some essential quality and that’s what the customer, the reader, wants,” Daunt said. The key, he said, is “to be clear” who the authors are and whether they are real people.
“So as long as the AI-written books are not claiming to be AI-written and pretending to be something else or plagiarizing others, as long as it’s clearly stated and customers want to buy them, we’ll stock them,” he added.
AI-related books may already be on Barnes & Noble shelves
Daunt, who took over as CEO in 2019, also told TODAY that he is optimistic about the future of the industry. The rise of AI doesn’t scare him, as he has withstood the challenges of technological change before. Especially, he noted, because, at least for now, people don’t necessarily seem to be going out of their way to get their hands on robot-written works.
“At this point, it seems unlikely that these AI-generated books will gain much commercial traction,” he said. “So I think this is something that should be treated with common sense and acceptance, but not allowed to be disguised as something.”
And with so many books on sale, Daunt said, there’s no guarantee that non-human authors haven’t already slipped into the fray.
“We have 300,000 titles across all our stores. Do you think some of them could have AI in them? It could be AI, but we’re not really aware of AI,” he said.
The fight against AI in art
Since the proliferation of newer, more advanced models for creating a variety of content, artists and writers in the music, art, book, film, and television industries have been scrambling to protect and compete with their work from generative AI.
In March, a horror novel called “Shy Girl” became a hot topic when its publication was suspended due to suspicions that it was written with extensive use of AI. Publisher Hachette Book Group has discontinued production of the book, which was originally published in the UK in November 2025, and its US release has been canceled entirely.
Meanwhile, celebrities like Taylor Swift are taking action to protect themselves and their art from AI. In a series of trademark applications filed in April, her team sought to protect not only her likeness but also her spoken words, such as “Hey, I’m Taylor.” This could help Swift challenge the unauthorized use of her voice in AI-generated clips and online.
