I’ve been asked, what is NoveList doing with Artificial Intelligence (AI)? The answer is important, but I’d like to start somewhere else first: With our commitment.
NoveList is committed to delivering reading recommendations of the highest quality. For 30 years we’ve been doing that, and we plan to keep doing it. We give insightful, meaningful, and trustworthy recommendations to readers based on our very human-centered understanding of the reading experience. Sharing our expertise is our commitment to readers everywhere.
Good recommendations are both art and science. We know that sometimes there is no one right answer, so we deliver multiple options. Reading moods change, sometimes over a lifetime, sometimes in a single day. We are here for ALL of it. Readers may not always know what they want until they see it, but here at NoveList, we have a long history of helping readers articulate exactly what they are in the mood for.
We draw our answers from a deep well of knowledge about books based on the expertise of our staff. Our team starts by describing every facet of the reading experience — including genres, themes, mood, style, identities, and more (see our latest enhancements in this area). The resulting recommendations support multiple journeys of discovery and delight for all readers.
The NoveList team believes that there is a kind of chemistry that happens when we’re able to put the right book in the right person’s hands. Books can have an impact on the people who read them, so we believe there is great value in the work we do. We care about the work we do.
Now back to the question of AI. By now, we’ve all seen ChatGPT or similar generative AI services recommend things and sound quite confident while doing it. It will even recommend books if you ask. But dig deeper and you’ll start to see the cracks.
Generative AI does create "hallucinations" which are instances where the AI generates information that is not based on the input data or reality. It also commonly turns out incorrect answers. And of course, there are concerns about where the underlying data is coming from.
AI tools like ChatGPT are not actually designed to be experts in anything; instead, they are designed to communicate in natural language that sounds great but leaves a lot on the table. This article does a good job explaining that by saying, “Chatbots cannot think like humans: They do not actually understand what they say.”
So, while it’s possible for AI to deliver nicely written recommendations, that’s not its priority. After all, the machine was trained to be good at one thing but not everything. The machine doesn’t really care.
One thing I can guarantee about NoveList is that we are good at recommending books because we care about the recommendations we make. We know exactly how our recommendations are made because there are knowledgeable people behind them, real human experts who care and curate, and that is our real secret.
I don’t mean to suggest that AI tools are worthless. In fact, I think the opposite is true. Leveraging the speed and power of computers alongside the expertise of humans is our goal. But we choose to prioritize the human side of what we do. The things human beings excel at — creativity, deciding on values, setting goals for the future, understanding other humans, and cultural sensitivity — are complex, subtle skills hard to teach to anyone besides other humans. For a great read about how AI and humans can work together beautifully, I recommend How Stitch Fix Uses Data Science and Machine Learning to Deliver Personalization at Scale.
That is also why we work so closely with libraries. Libraries have always understood the value of human expertise. Especially now as the world drowns in a sea of information (and misinformation), librarians are on the front lines, vetting and curating high-quality information. AI is going to exacerbate that problem in the world of books (see Is AI the Bitter End—or the Lucrative Future—of Book Publishing?) so we need expert guidance more than ever.
Go to your local library and you’ll find a carefully selected collection of books and programs that library staff curated for your benefit. Ask a librarian for help and they will guide you to authoritative sources and teach you how to evaluate what you find. NoveList is one of the trusted sources libraries have used for years to help guide their patrons to good books. We’ve been called their “secret weapon” in this work. (Want to try it out yourself? See if your library has access to NoveList Plus.)
We’re committed to being that trusted source of recommendations for years to come. Even as AI continues to advance, rest assured that the humans remain in charge here at NoveList because we prioritize reader satisfaction over everything else.
Danielle Borasky is the Vice President of NoveList. She is currently reading Long After We Are Gone by Terah Shelton Harris.
