Artificial intelligence helps publishing industry achieve breakthroughs

However, improving efficiency, optimising content, and gradually personalising reader experiences to pave a new path for the sustainable development of the publishing industry remains a major challenge.

The “easy” and “difficult” issues of AI

In recent years, the Vietnamese publishing sector has undergone significant transformations in response to new technological trends. AI is gradually becoming a powerful assistant enabling publishers to innovate their operations. This is both a global trend and an inevitable direction to help the publishing industry overcome traditional challenges and gradually build a sustainable development foundation in the digital era.

According to the Department of Publishing, Printing and Distribution (under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism), as of the end of 2024, over 54% of domestic publishing houses have engaged in digital publishing activities, reflecting a clear shift across the sector.

Additionally, technology platforms such as VoizFM and Waka, along with digital library systems such as sachquocgia.vn, thuviencoso.vn, and stbook.vn, have actively adopted AI to digitise book collections and offer personalised experiences to users.

Notably, this wave of innovation is not limited to major publishers; numerous private enterprises, tech startups, and independent authors in Viet Nam have also proactively take advantage of AI to create content and publish books in a more rapid, flexible, and engaging manner. From drafting text and generating synthetic voices for audiobooks to analysing reader behaviour data for content optimisation, AI is reshaping the entire value chain of the domestic publishing industry.

Technology platforms such as VoizFM and Waka; electronic library systems such as sachquocgia.vn, thuviencoso.vn and stbook.vn are also actively applying AI to digitize book collections and bring personalized experiences to users.

Nguyen Nguyen, Head of the Department of Publishing, Printing and Distribution, stated that AI is triggering a revolution in the publishing sector. However, the crucial issue at present is to raise awareness, enhance technological capacity, and develop a suitable legal framework to ensure that AI is applied in a proper, effective, and controlled manner. To this end, close coordination is required among regulatory bodies, publishers, and tech firms.

Moreover, training editors, authors, and publishing staff to work effectively with AI tools is a vital factor in maintaining professionalism and ensuring the quality of publications.

Sharing the same view, Nguyen Canh Binh, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Alpha Books and Omega Viet Nam, stated that AI does not eliminate the role of humans in content creation; rather, it helps people maximise their intellectual and emotional strengths. Technical tasks such as preliminary editing, error checking, or even translation can be handled by AI quickly and accurately. The publishing sector should treat AI as a “colleague” rather than a competitor.

At the content production level, publishers are applying AI in many stages. According to Vu Thi Quynh Lien, Editor-in-Chief of Kim Dong Publishing House, AI is a trend and a pressing issue that must be considered from two angles: intellectual property and its role in developing the publishing sector. Specifically, AI tools are assisting authors with stages that traditionally required significant time and cost. But what are the advantages and disadvantages, and how should their impacts on the publishing industry be quantified appropriately?

In addition, intellectual property is becoming a pressing bottleneck. AI’s ability to generate content easily complicates the question of authorship. Furthermore, AI is accelerating the illegal reproduction of books, particularly e-books and audiobooks — formats that are already widely distributed via unlicensed digital platforms.

Tightening controls to avoid risks

There is no denying that AI contributes to improving productivity, expanding creative capacity, and optimising workflows in the publishing sector. However, its rapid and uncontrolled development also presents numerous challenges, especially regarding professional ethics, copyright, content quality, and the risk of overdependence on technology.

At many seminars and forums, technology experts have noted that for AI to become a sustainable and positive support tool for the publishing sector, a coordinated strategy is needed, with a focus on specific solutions. These include refining the legal framework with priority given to revising the Publishing Law; enhancing technological capacity and workforce training; developing shared digital data and publishing platforms; and promoting responsible AI-based content creation.

Technology experts have warned that if the publishing industry overuses AI without adequate controls, the consequences will go beyond declining content quality to significantly impacting professional ethics, reading culture, and the survival of human creativity in a field deeply rooted in humanity and intellect.

According to literary critic Associate Professor Van Gia, the first impact of AI is the gradual erosion of human creative identity. Literary, academic, or any form of content creation reflects intellect, emotion, and personal experience — elements that AI is not yet capable of authentically replicating.

If the publishing industry becomes overly reliant on AI tools for writing, editing, or design, the final products are likely to become homogeneous, soulless, structurally and stylistically similar, and emotionally shallow. Without proper control, the market could soon be flooded with mass-produced content, causing readers to lose trust in the quality and authenticity of books. This may push the culture of reading into crisis.

Experts have also analysed the risk of spreading misinformation or half-truths. If publishers lack the capacity to vet content or allow AI to autonomously generate academic, educational, or scientific materials, the danger is considerable. For instance, AI might create a science book based on unverified sources or a self-help guide derived from short-lived social media trends. In such cases, the publishing industry would cease to be the “guardian of knowledge” and instead become a tool for reproducing latent errors.

Moreover, if the creative process shifts from thoughtful reflection and perception to merely “instructing and reviewing” machines, the author’s role will be seriously diminished. Rather than serving as a source of inspiration, a mirror of reality, or a creator of unique worlds through language, authors may be reduced to giving commands and editing AI-generated drafts. This presents a real threat to creative quality and could contribute to the decline of the writing profession, one of the spiritual pillars of culture and national knowledge.

Nguyen Nguyen, Head of the Department of Publishing, Printing and Distribution, emphasised the risk of disrupting the labour ecosystem within the publishing sector and of content inequality. Without a reasonable employment transition strategy, the industry may face the loss of experienced specialists, leading to internal weakening and an inability to maintain long-term publishing quality, even if AI can temporarily fill those gaps.

If the AI trend becomes widespread, small-scale publishers and independent individuals may find it difficult to compete, thereby increasing inequality in access to the market and readership. As a result, the market may be dominated by technology, significantly constraining the principles of academic freedom and knowledge diversity that the publishing sector has always aimed to uphold.

AI technology is opening a powerful door to innovation in the publishing industry. However, if it is not guided by strategic thinking and ethical foundations, AI may unintentionally erode creative identity, dismantle the knowledge ecosystem, and threaten the sustainability of reading culture. The publishing industry must simultaneously adopt and orient technology, placing humans at the centre, knowledge as the foundation, and creative value as the goal.

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