Libby lets readers ban AI books from library shelves
overdrive's libby app is introducing controls to filter out ai-generated books and audiobooks, relying on publisher self-labeling. the move aims to give patrons and librarians agency over the influx of machine-made content entering the catalog.
overdrive is introducing opt-in filters for its libby app, allowing library patrons to hide ai-generated content including ai-narrated audiobooks and machine translations. the detection mechanism relies entirely on publishers self-labeling their works as ai-generated, which the company acknowledges will retroactively classify its vast pre-2020 catalog as human-made. the update serves as a direct response to industry-wide concerns over the quality of ai-generated books, with ceo marc debevoise calling ai a 'new frontier' that requires strict delineation from human works. while competitors like amazon and kobo have moved to block ai submissions, overdrive is attempting to balance ai exclusion with the potential benefits of ai in localization and recommendation.