{"id":250877,"date":"2026-05-20T19:30:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T23:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/20\/barnes-noble-clarifies-stance-on-ai-written-books-after-blowback\/"},"modified":"2026-05-20T19:35:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T23:35:08","slug":"barnes-noble-clarifies-stance-on-ai-written-books-after-blowback","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/20\/barnes-noble-clarifies-stance-on-ai-written-books-after-blowback\/","title":{"rendered":"Barnes & Noble clarifies stance on AI-written books after blowback"},"content":{"rendered":"

Barnes & Noble clarifies stance on AI-written books after blowback<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/entertainment-arts\/story\/2026-05-20\/barnes-noble-boycott-ceo-bookseller-store-will-sell-ai-written-books<\/a><\/p>\n

Publish Date: 2026-05-20 19:30:00<\/a><\/p>\n

Source Domain: www.latimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Barnes & Noble was turning a page on the chain\u2019s history of declining sales, but recent comments have stirred bad blood for the bookseller.<\/p>\n

James Daunt, the chief executive credited with breathing new life into the retailer, is clarifying the store\u2019s stance on stocking its shelves with AI-written books. <\/p>\n

The controversy stems from Daunt\u2019s Monday appearance on \u201cToday\u201d with Jenna Bush Hager. In a clip from the interview that went viral, Daunt said, \u201cI have actually no problem selling any book, as long as it doesn\u2019t masquerade or pretend to be something that it isn\u2019t. So, as long as an AI-written book says it\u2019s an AI-written book, then we will stock them,\u201d Daunt said. <\/p>\n

By Wednesday, thousands of calls to boycott the bookseller had flooded social media. <\/p>\n

Kathlin Finn, a writer and former employee of the chain, posted on social media, writing, \u201cHey Barnes & Not Noble, I worked for you and have supported you, but your latest AI decision is extremely disappointing. I will not be shopping or promoting B&N unless you change your AI policy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Author Cristin Bishara wrote, \u201cAs an author this [is] the most depressing news. I\u2019ve been saying for a long time that this was coming. People told me I was overreacting. And I had a feeling it would start with a cute round table at the front of a B&N.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another social media user added, \u201cThe Barnes & Noble CEO saying they\u2019ll stock AI generated books as long as they\u2019re labeled and aren\u2019t \u2018ripping off somebody else\u2019 is wild considering all generative AI is ripping off someone else.\u201d<\/p>\n

Daunt told The Times that the wave of backlash is based on misinterpretations of what he said, and that only a \u201chighly edited version\u201d of what the bookseller \u201cactually said\u201d had been aired.<\/p>\n

In an emailed statement, he said the bookseller does not sell AI books, \u201cas far as we are aware.\u201d Barnes & Noble \u201cdemand[s] that publishers label any books that are AI generated,\u201d and the chain takes \u201cactive measures to…<\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Barnes & Noble clarifies stance on AI-written books after blowback https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/entertainment-arts\/story\/2026-05-20\/barnes-noble-boycott-ceo-bookseller-store-will-sell-ai-written-books Publish Date: 2026-05-20 19:30:00…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":250878,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/ca-times.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/c9a69a4\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/3000x1575+0+213\/resize\/1200x630!\/quality\/75\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F50%2F8f%2Ff8c4ac4342deb2f491d52550d767%2F127386263.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[19],"class_list":["post-250877","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artificial-intelligence","tag-generative-ai"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250877"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=250877"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250877\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":250879,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250877\/revisions\/250879"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/250878"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=250877"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=250877"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=250877"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}