NBD Biblion, the world's largest online library, has announced that it is laying off all its human reviewers. Company spokesman Jonathan D'Angelo said the decision was taken to speed up the review process.
"Using our new AI software, we can now review books much faster and more accurately than ever before," D'Angelo said. "So there's really no need for human reviewers anymore."
There have been mixed reactions to the decision. Some praise NBD Biblion for its innovative approach, while others criticise the company for replacing human workers with machines.
"This is the future of work," D'Angelo said. "More and more companies are going to rely on machines to do the work that used to be done by people. It's inevitable."
In the Netherlands, the move was received with disgust by the Dutch Foundation for Literature, a foundation that supports Dutch authors.
"This is an outrageous move that shows contempt for culture and for the people who create it," the foundation said in a statement.
On facebook, critics were quick to respond.
"So much for human reviews. What's next, robots writing books?"
"This is terrible! This is the end of humanity!"
Good to knowThe original message originated from Tzum.
The response:
NBD-Biblion on reviewing algorithm: 'A simple explanation does not do justice to reality'.
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Totally agree with the previous contribution. Am one of the seven hundred myself. I took part in the webinar on 15 March last. The report Biblion provided of it is deplorable in quality. Not a single substantive question is really answered and it teems with veiled language and terms like 'many', 'most', etc. The stakes are apparently high and it seems as if they prefer not to give any insight into the research that would underpin these developments.
Context is indeed the magic word, and assessing it is precisely something that algorithms are incapable of doing. This means that purchase information texts, especially those of non-fiction, will hardly add any value. But they are, of course, readily available...
As one of seven hundred.
Of course, AI also knows exactly whether a chess book contains something new, bridge book...science...fill in the blank. Already looking forward to the review of that book about the Jewish Council by Bart van der Boom coming out in April. Let me keep it simple: AI has no knowledge of the world. It has no overview of a particular field of knowledge. It will discuss each book on its own. That strikes me as a decline in service to the libraries for which the purchase information is written.
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