How Artificial Intelligence Is Transforming the E-Publishing Industry: Advantages, Challenges, and Future

• By Akshita Pacholi
• 27-02-2023
• Artificial Intelligence

It's been a long time since the print has overtaken the digital. The publishing industry has come a long way to be transformed into e-publishing. Newer ways and technologies have redefined the industry, upgrading it to the next level. Among these significant technologies, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is still exploring its way across the industry. Not just to fit in but to develop more improved ways for the authors and publishers to gain the exposure they require and deserve.

The growth of academic publishing and scholarly output has offered ample data to feed and train AI for now. Its potential has also grabbed top publishers' attention for investments in AI-based tools, systems, and software. The top publishers are reforming their traditional ways of publishing to a data-driven way. The major focus is on obtaining a sophisticated AI-based software system for searching content, analyzing Text, discovering peer reviewers, plagiarism checks, and statistical results.

Nevertheless, AI-based solutions are almost everywhere, and we have absolutely no idea how much we owe to this technology. AI has the ability to imitate human skills, including planning, learning, and reasoning. It intends to redefine tasks performed by humans along with improving the operations based on gathered information. There is more to what AI can offer the world of e-publishing, and this article intends to walk you through a comprehensive guide based on how AI is transforming different areas of the E-publishing industry.

How do Publishers Use AI?

While someone says AI and publishing together, people mostly wonder about a world where robots are writing books and blogs. AI in publishing has definitely created controversies in several areas, making certain people scared of losing their jobs and others appreciating its possibilities. Whereas the way publishers use, AI is a little different.

Before defining the role of AI in the publishing sector, let us introduce you to the stages of the complete publishing process. It may just look as simple as writing, editing, and publishing a book, but it consists of several complex processes and performers. Some of the performers who are required throughout the process include authors, editors, marketers, market analysts, data analysts, researchers, salespersons, and property lawyers. AI only works on improving the working of all these roles.

Presently, AI is majorly getting used for content classification. It is helpful for people to sort and consume content based on their preferences. For instance, if you have ever purchased something online and had a similar recommendation, it is the AI working for you! AI can identify trends based on the product you have ordered and presents you with the same recommended ones. In the publishing industry, AI is used for multiple tasks in different domains. Following are some of the major examples of how AI is being used in publishing.

Automated text analysis

This is an incredibly significant function in the realm of content publishing on the Internet when there are endless written texts available by many different authors. Automated text analysis can detect plagiarized content without human intervention and thus decrease editorial workload. This function can also monitor copyright infringement on third-party publishing platforms.

Text auto-tagging

Another major and most common application of AI in publishing is Text auto-tagging. It defines the use of metadata tagging for improving the discoverability of content. While developing an article online, journalists normally depend on automated tagging available through CMS, or else they will add tags manually. In such a situation automating content classification helps in saving a lot of time.

Content personalization

You must have experienced this while using an OTT platform when watching a movie gets complimented with other recommendations of the same genre. Artificial intelligence for publishers follows a similar algorithm. It assists in changing over and categorizing customized content within newsletters, articles, editorials, and others, as well as audience segmentation. AI enables people to receive individual content of their preferred choices.

AI Tools for Research and Writing

Research and writing are among the most complicated domains of the publishing industry. Various resources are devoted to bringing out some effective AI tools for researchers. On the other hand, tools such as Google Scholar also help researchers find relevant research, metrics, and citations.

Furthermore, note-taking and task management tools help the authors and researchers manage their notes, bibliographies, and references. There are certain other AI-based all-in-one platforms that offer summarized research, helps with appropriate research and journals, plagiarism checks, and much more. These AI-based tools empower researchers by simplifying their complicated and repetitive tasks. There's more; AI can also help researchers to format manuscripts and make them suitable for particular academic journals.

There is an array of AI tools already existing for writing to help researchers, as well as writers, improve their writing. These AI-based writing tools help create clear and concise writing. These writing and editing tools are helpful for reducing writers' workload, increasing their workflow, and improving the overall quality of their work. At the same time, writers and researchers can also edit their works with the help of these tools and improve their workflow. Here are some major effective features of what AI offers to the publishing industry.

Automated formatting

AI-based tools have simplified formatting, editing, and grammar checking. It offers the writers and publishers enough time to focus on other important aspects and core areas.

Content translations

AI has boosted the progress in developing professional automated translation tools, which helps to upgrade and enables the availability of content in different languages. Additionally, AI also minimizes human errors and intensifies the publishing process all at once.

The Use of AI in Academic Publishing

Academic publishing is the other major area of the publishing industry where AI has started spreading its tentacles. AI has been used to design specific solutions for different publishing domains, as we have noticed till now. For academic publishing, there is a variety of tools available in the field, including plagiarism and copyright checkers and tools to search for peer reviewers.

Academic publishing is a challenging area, and it requires overcoming the struggles of its own errors in the past and biases. AI seems to have the potential to support academic publishing with an unbiased selection of peer reviewers and upsurge the published authors' diversity.

AI-based academic editing

Presently, there are several language-support services available. Various researchers sometimes require quick examination of their manuscripts when they have less or no time or when they do not have the required skill. AI tools offering language correction services are of much use in such cases. AI-based tools are effective in correcting language-based errors along with helping you use some domain-specific terms as well.

Other Roles Offered By Artificial Intelligence To The Publishing Industry

Apart from domain-specific solutions, there are several other AI-based tools designed to support the publishing and e-publishing industry. The following is a list of some AI-powered tools getting used by the publishing industry.

SEO

Artificial intelligence has boosted the SEO process by taking actions for keyword research, distribution, and performance optimization. The effect has highly leveled up the relevance and visibility of the content.

Chatbots

Chatbots are getting highlighted in multiple industries for their effectiveness. In the publishing industry, authors can use them to personalize and automate their interactions with readers. Authors can create a chatbot so that they can understand human language and answer the questions asked by the readers.

Email marketing

AI has effectively improved marketing strategies for several industries. And publishing industry can collect the same benefits of it. AI for email marketing can help with personalized emails. AI-based email marketing can help publishers with growth in their brand name and increase sales.

Limitations And Challenges Associated With The Implementation Of AI Applications

Though AI seems to have an array of advantages for the publishing industry, however, there are still several limitations to it. For starters, AI simply rejects the advanced or recent insights owing to the data utilized for training belonging to the current sciences. Moreover, AI has a lot to offer to the field of publishing. Yet, AI is not considered a highly reliable source by many publishers for fact-checking and source validation. There are still chances that AI can make errors while performing tasks independently, so it basically needs human intervention.

Other than this, human bias is the most concerning factor that can affect the implementation of AI. Human biases lead to offering the data-modeling processes to the AI application. This can harm the whole publishing process. Furthermore, the processes, including data-modeling process and analysis, data mining, and storage, require a great amount of energy and investment. Moreover, several publishers also believe that AI is merely an investment of a large amount with no guaranteed returns or impactful results. From an organization's point of view, the implementation of AI also requires the hiring of new and qualified employees, which in turn is nothing but a cost-generating process.

Apart from heavy financial investment, there is more to the list of challenges related to AI, which includes uncertain ROI, collaboration with external partners and teams, absence of competencies, less or no training staff, and an increase in employment for AI tools.

Therefore, simply AI may offer great potential, but it also demands the same from the organization prior to its implementation. Moreover, it is that AI may become more intelligent than humans, yet there are certain things that can only be performed by humans. This includes different segments of data interpretations and a comprehensive understanding of the required purpose, which can be gained by the researcher after years of experience, hard work, and failures.

What Is The Future Of AI-powered Tools In The Publishing Industry?

Since various publishers are coming forward to initiate investments in AI-powered publishing tools, it is very much clear that within some time or later, AI may overtake a portion or more of the publishing industry. The publishing industry can witness automated publishing systems with AI-powered systems performing matter-based reviews of articles and manuscripts. There will be AI powering the industry with automated methodological studies and publishing articles and research without any human intervention. Imagine processes from preparing a journal to publishing it are all getting performed by AI with superfast sharing and less time requirement. Therefore, AI-powered tools can lead to the embrace of epublishing and may also enhance overall communication.

The entire effect, however, will be measured on the basis of its ability to bring and publish high-quality academic work and offer greater scholarly output. But one thing can happen for sure, if AI proves an impactful and significant technology for the publishing industry, it can spread its tentacles in almost every area, big or small, providing better solutions similar to what it is offering for content creation, consumption, and distribution.

Conclusion

AI is the current big thing, and there is no doubt that it will slowly acquire the publishing industry like every other sector. The possibilities and growth of this fast-changing technology are vast and unmatchable for now. It may take a substantial amount of duration, but once it starts to emerge, it will automate the entire industry and may also surpass human intelligence in some areas. However, there are still some areas where AI cannot be considered a reliable source and may get end up in the very beginning.

Currently, since AI systems are getting developed and trained by humans, prejudice, bias, and unfairness may occur. Nevertheless, AI has great potential and may thrive in the industry once we gain expertise in controlling and using it in an appropriate manner. All we need for now is to move forward, embrace the upcoming advancements related to AI in the publishing industry, and try integrating them into the industry with the only purpose of simplifying work and not an entirely reliable way.