Big Five Staff Tell WIRED AI Is Quietly Writing Publicity Copy and Agent Emails

Are big publishers using AI on the books they publish? According to a WIRED report published October 9, 2026, at least three of the Big Five US publishers, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster and Hachette, have been "quietly incorporating AI tools into their publishing processes without public disclosures or author consent."

WIRED's Adam Morgan based the report on interviews with more than two dozen workers, all of whom spoke on condition of anonymity to protect their jobs. Hachette and Simon & Schuster responded on the record. HarperCollins did not respond to WIRED's requests for comment.

What staff told WIRED

According to the report, publishers are using large language models such as Claude and ChatGPT "to email literary agents, write publicity and back-cover copy, design cover art, and generate marketing materials, often at the direction of their executives." Workers at all three houses told WIRED that one of the most common uses so far is publicity copy, the text readers see on retailer pages, on back covers and in pitches to booksellers and reviewers.

At HarperCollins, a current employee told WIRED that senior leaders bought Claude licenses from Anthropic months ago "but very quickly realized they didn't know how to implement them." Staff were then "voluntold" to become "AI Champions" and to find uses in monthly brainstorming sessions, the report says. Staffers told WIRED the company has also bought licenses for ChatGPT and Jasper, a marketing automation platform.

At Simon & Schuster, staffers described a May 2024 employee contest for the best AI use cases, with a $10,000 prize, and a workshop with OpenAI representatives that suggested using ChatGPT to write emails to literary agents. One employee told WIRED the company has since "rolled back some of the AI-pushing because employees kept complaining about it in town halls."

What the publishers said

A Hachette spokesperson told WIRED the company "support[s] the use of AI tools for operational purposes, when they help our authors' books reach more readers," but does "not support creative uses of AI, including communicating with our authors and partners."

Wibke Grutjen, Simon & Schuster's global chief marketing and communications officer, told WIRED that "employees across all functions have access to a limited number of enterprise-level AI tools," that using them is not mandatory, and that the company prohibits any AI tool "that has not been vetted and approved."

The Simon & Schuster workflow tool

WIRED also reports that Simon & Schuster staff circulated an open letter to CEO Greg Greeley opposing a trial of Skan AI, a workflow-analysis product. According to WIRED, Greeley sent a memo on October 6 confirming the company had been exploring Skan AI's Blueprint product, but that "no decision has been made to use Blueprint or any other productivity-monitoring or workflow-analysis tool."

Agents worry about manuscripts

The literary agents WIRED spoke with said they fear publishers could paste authors' manuscripts into public AI tools. One agent said their agency has added contract clauses saying "this material can't be run through an LLM." A HarperCollins source told WIRED that editors who asked whether they could paste a full manuscript into an open AI tool were told not to by the company's legal team.

Emma Dries, an agent at Triangle House Literary, told WIRED: "We need publishers to be clear about what is being used and when."

Why it matters for authors

Ask your publisher what it uses AI for. Hachette told WIRED it does not support creative uses of AI, and Simon & Schuster says it only allows vetted tools. Those are on-record statements you can point to when you ask how your own book's copy, cover and marketing were made.

Put it in the contract. Agents told WIRED they are adding clauses that bar running a manuscript through an LLM. If you are negotiating a deal, ask your agent whether your contract covers how the publisher itself may use AI on your work, not just outside tech companies.

Check your book's copy. WIRED's sources say publicity and back-cover copy are the most common AI uses so far. Read your retailer description, catalog copy and pitch materials before they go out, and ask for changes if they don't sound like your book.

Sources

• WIRED: Book Publishers Are Quietly Using More AI. Staff Are Revolting (Adam Morgan, October 9, 2026)