The ongoing Unbound struggles continue to unfold as more troubling news emerges about the transition from Unbound to Boundless Books. Having made it AI-free through the first half of the week, we end with a round-up of a few stories from the area. First (with a tangential AI link I hadn’t previously spotted), and with thanks to all-round legend Sam Missingham for this highly thoughtful thread on Bluesky, is the latest development in the Unbound/Boundless saga.
ALLi News Editor Dan Holloway
I reported earlier this year that many authors on the crowdfunding book publishing platform Unbound had not been paid royalties owed as Unbound collapsed, only to be reborn as Boundless Books. It seems that the new company is also missing payment targets, and the founder of Unbound, John Mitchinson, has now left.
What I hadn’t noted is that prior to the original collapse, the company seems to have spent £1 million on an AI tool to help it assess how likely potential author-clients were to hit their crowdfunding targets. It feels like a case of “oh dear” all around. But I really feel for the authors caught up in this.
AI Transparency Setback in UK Legislation
Meanwhile, the UK government has yet again voted down amendments to its forthcoming Data Bill that would have insisted upon transparency from tech firms over their use of copyright materials to train generative AI.
The amendments, championed in the UK’s upper legislative house by filmmaker Beeban Kidron, will now be dropped for good. The government has insisted its purpose in these votes has been to allow it to produce good legislation on AI and copyright after full consultation. The proof of the pudding will be in the eating.
PWC Report Suggests AI Job Impacts May Be Deeper Than They Appear
And finally, the accounting and auditing firm PWC has issued its latest AI jobs barometer. This report looks at the impact that AI is having in the workplace. And on the surface, it looks like a story of increased productivity, higher wages, and increasing opportunity.
Mark Williams, as ever, has an interesting take on how this translates to the publishing sector. His case is that the idea of a superficial set of benefits might be misleading—because the benefits aren’t so superficial.
While creative industries aren’t segmented in the report, there is an interesting section on “information, communication, and technology,” which is the closest we have. And it suggests that the sector’s share of the job market is decreasing, though its absolute numbers are growing.
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