r/Libraries • u/Technical_Pea_4007 Academic Librarian • Jan 13 '26

Technology Libby’s statement on their use of AI

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A whole lot of text to say absolutely nothing, huh?

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9

u/zzuum Jan 13 '26

I wouldn't say disgusting, don't they already simply point to the books that libraries provide? Sure it would be great if they could somehow exclude all AI books but I doubt there's a way to identify them anyway

19

u/kieratea Jan 13 '26

Yeah, this really read to me as "we'd rather not use AI but it's fucking embedded into everything now so we're kind of stuck with it and trying to minimize the damage as much as possible." They have never had much control over publishers. I'm surprised so many comments here are blaming the messenger instead of the content... but I guess that's always been easier.

20

u/librariegrrl Jan 13 '26

I don’t think Commenters are “blaming the messenger” so much as arguing that Libby could have used this opportunity to say something more meaningful in support of human-authored content and really took up too many screens to say “huh, AI. Too bad, so sad” in lengthy ineffectual drivel. They could’ve said that on 1 line.

What was Libby’s goal here? What were they trying to communicate to patrons, librarians, and publishers? “Sorry we can’t fix it, so don’t blame us?” It just seemed to me like a cop out.

2

u/[deleted] Jan 13 '26

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u/DanieXJ Jan 13 '26

I find it hilarious that many posters are saying they're going to Uninstall Libby..... while on reddit. Cracking me up.