I’m writing this on the way home from Chicago, where I gave a keynote on AI and publishing at the ECPA Leadership Summit. As I said in my presentation, this is not an area of publishing I’ve worked in, and my role was to provide an outside perspective—less about the specifics of the sector, more about what AI might look like when viewed from beyond it.

I gave the opening keynote at the ALPSP University Press Redux conference in Liverpool earlier today, discussing how generative AI is affecting scholarly publishing. My professional background is in trade rather than scholarly publishing, so instead of focusing on the university press business model or specific AI tools, I tried to step back and look at a macro question: what happens when AI changes both how knowledge is produced and how it is discovered.

Thanks to Luis González, Javier Celaya, Christopher Kenneally and their colleagues for inviting me to give a keynote address on the impact of AI on audiobook publishing this morning at Parix Audio Day 2026 in Madrid. It’s one of the best conferences in the publishing calendar, and hands down the best venue.

I’m on my way back from the IPG Spring Conference in London, always one of the highlights of the publishing year. It was a really good mix of the inspirational, the practical, and a uniquely generous, welcoming and supportive community. I particularly enjoyed the presentations from former Shazam chairman and crime writer Ajay Chowdhury, National Literacy Trust CEO Jonathan Douglas, BBC media editor Katie Razzall, Illumicrate CEO Daphne Tonge and Bonnier UK Co-CEOs Sarah Benton and Jonathan Perdoni. I spoke in the morning about the IPG’s forthcoming short training courses (data, content creation, websites/GEO and AI risk/governance) and in the afternoon to give members an update on the policy and licensing landscape for AI.