It sounds like an April Fool, but a piece of software called Mr Poolitzer was launched at the Frankfurt Book Fair claiming to use AI to help editors and agents sift through the slush pile.
The Bookseller reports that Berlin-based submissions management software MyPoolitzer has partnered with AI technology firm Quantification to create an AI-assisted submissions system which the firm claims is “poised to transform the manuscript evaluation process for agents and publishers”.
Mr Pooli utzer uses “cutting-edge large language model [LLM]. technology combined with classical natural language processing, to automatically assess manuscript quality based on four critical parameters: style fit, genre fit, predicted rating and sales potential”.
Jost-Tilo Gehrke, chief executive officer of Berlin-based MyPoolitzer, said: “Our partnership with Quantification has enabled us to create a tool that not only saves time but also enhances the quality of manuscript selection.”
Its launch coincides with the global announcement from Penguin Random House that it has changed the wording on its copyright pages to help protect authors’ intellectual property from being used to train large language models (LLMs) and other artificial intelligence (AI) tools.
The new wording on its copyright pages says: “No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner for the purpose of training artificial intelligence technologies or systems”, and will be included in all new titles and any backlist titles that are reprinted.
PRH’s move is to prevent companies like Mr Poolitzer using PRH content for developing chatbots and other digital tools.
These are early days yet in the new battles over AI and copyright, with many more skirmishes to come.