Dan Holloway

This author has written 803 articles
Poetry Can Bypass AI

News Summary: New Study Shows Poetry Can Bypass AI Guardrails; Character AI Shifts Its Teen Strategy

Authoritarian governments—and commentators on Lord Byron alike—have long suspected poets might be the most dangerous people in society. Indeed, one of my favorite novels, Bolaño’s doorstop The Savage Detectives, has this fear at its heart. A new study has discovered there might be something in that after all. The paper, catchily titled “Adversarial Poetry as a Universal Single-Turn Jailbreak in Large Language Models (LLMs),” can essentially be summed up by saying, “AI will teach you how to do naughty things if you ask it in poetry.”
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OverDrive Sues OpenAI

News Summary: OverDrive Sues OpenAI over ‘Sora,’ Spotify Plans Price Hike, and Speakies Debut

We’re used to AI-related lawsuits. And we’re used to those lawsuits being about copyright. And the first story today ticks those boxes, but not in the way you might expect. OpenAI is on the receiving end, as it often is. But the litigant is the distributor of digital resources to libraries, OverDrive, familiar to many of us as the platform through which indies are able to get our works into the library system.
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AI-Generated Staff Profiles

News Podcast: AI-Generated Staff Profiles Raise Concerns, Tulia Launches Author Platform, and NZ Prize Bars AI Covers

On this episode of the Self-Publishing with ALLi podcast, Dan Holloway reports on concerns around companies using AI-generated staff profiles to sell high-priced author services, including Melbourne Book Publisher and related outfits in the UK, Australia, and New Zealand. He also looks at Tulia’s new author platform that builds customizable book pages from ISBN data, highlights a small-group social reading app, and notes a case from New Zealand where AI-assisted cover design led to books being disqualified from a major award.
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Tertulia

News Summary: New Tools from Tertulia and a Social Platform for Small Reading Groups

We start the week with a round-up of interesting new platforms and tools. And we begin with an expanded offering from one of ALLi’s partners, Tertulia (note to self as a theologian who spent a term studying the patristic author Tertullian, that there is but one “l”). Tertulia started life and continues to thrive as an online bookstore designed to be run differently.
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Spotify Expands Audiobooks

News Podcast: Spotify Expands Audiobooks, Launches Recaps Feature, and beehiiv Adds New Tools for Authors

On this episode of the Self-Publishing with ALLi podcast, Dan Holloway reports on Spotify’s continued expansion into audiobooks, including new access across key Nordic markets and the rollout of its AI-powered “recaps” feature that helps listeners pick up where they left off. He outlines how Spotify is addressing copyright concerns around AI use and notes broader audio developments, including 11 Labs signing voice deals with major celebrities. Dan also looks at beehiiv’s move to position itself as a full-service platform for long-form creators, offering new website and analytics tools for authors who rely on newsletters.
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Beehiiv Unveils New AI Marketing Tools

News Summary: Beehiiv Unveils New AI Marketing Tools; Experts Trace How Discovery and Promotion Are Rapidly Changing

I have come across several fascinating pieces on the changing shape of marketing for indie authors over the past week. The news item that frames them picks up on Tuesday’s theme of new tools, with some more AI gizmos courtesy of newsletter platform Beehiiv (ironically, the announcement comes a week after I finally signed up to have my newsletter with them).
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Amazon Launches Kindle Translate

News Podcast: Amazon Launches Kindle Translate, Australia Blocks Data Mining Exception

On this episode of the Self-Publishing with ALLi podcast, Dan Holloway reports on Amazon’s launch of Kindle Translate, an AI-powered tool that allows translations between English, Spanish, and German. He discusses how it could open new markets for authors while raising questions about accuracy and the role of human translators. Dan also covers Australia’s decision to reject a text and data mining exception to copyright law, a win for authors and creatives concerned about AI training practices, and shares updates on the ongoing Anthropic settlement affecting writers worldwide.
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ALLi To Host Webinar

News Summary: ALLi to Host Webinar Helping Authors Understand the Anthropic AI Settlement

You will have heard a lot in this column and elsewhere about the Anthropic AI settlement. In my last report, I noted that there were still more than 200,000 titles eligible to be part of the class action whose authors had not yet come forward to join. Part of the judge’s concern in the case was that more authors be made aware of how to state an interest.
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