AI use is becoming more prevalent across organizations in the North American book industry, according to a newly released report from the Book Industry Study Group (BISG) and BookNet Canada.

The report, called “AI use across the North American book industry,” features results from a survey of the industry administered earlier this year. The report found that 63 per cent of respondents said their organization is using AI – up 32 per cent from the 2025 report. 

Individual use of AI, which refers to how respondents use AI “in their own professional work,” however, fell to 38 per cent in the 2026 survey, down from 45 per cent in 2025. Individual use of AI varied depending on the size of organization a respondent works for, with respondents at larger organizations more likely to use AI in their own professional work than those at smaller organizations. 

Larger organizations were more likely to use AI at an organizational level and have formal AI policies in place compared to smaller organizations: 88 per cent of organizations with more than 100 employees reported using AI compared to 64 per cent of organizations with 51 to 100 employees. Of organizations with 21 to 50 employees, 53 per cent reported using AI, and those with 11 to 20 employees reported AI use at less than 50 per cent. Less than 45 per cent of organizations with 2 to 10 employees reported organizational AI use.

This year’s survey – the second of its kind – aimed to capture a detailed overview of how those in the publishing industry are approaching AI, including identifying concerns and friction points.

There were 771 respondents to this year’s survey, up from 521 in 2025. More than half of respondents – 63 per cent – reported working in the U.S., with 37 per cent reporting working in Canada.

As organizational use of AI – which was most commonly used for administrative or operational tasks and marketing – has increased, the report also found that concerns about AI are widespread and evolving. 

“Compared with 2025, concerns about job impacts, creator livelihoods, security, and environmental sustainability increased, with sustainability concerns rising by 130 per cent,” the report says. The 2026 survey also looked at a number of new areas that were not included in the 2025 survey, including trust-related concerns: 89 per cent of respondents were concerned about the accuracy of AI information; 89 per cent of respondents were concerned about AI-generated books flooding retail platforms; and 82 per cent of respondents were concerned about disclosure of AI use in the creation of books to consumers and creator protection. 

The report stresses that the findings of this year’s survey reinforce the importance of ongoing industry-wide conversations about changing AI technologies. 

“The decisions being made now will help shape the role AI plays in publishing for years to come,” the report concludes. “The goal should not be to adopt AI simply because it is available, nor to reject it without considering where it may offer genuine value. Instead, the industry has an opportunity to approach these technologies intentionally while establishing clear expectations for their use, and ensuring that efficiency does not come at the expense of the creative, professional, ethical, and cultural values that make publishing meaningful.”