Libby to add AI-content filters relying on self-labeling by publishers

OverDrive, the company behind the Libby ebook-lending app, announced plans to introduce AI-content filters in Libby’s settings, enabling users to opt out of AI-generated books, AI-narrated audiobooks, machine translation, and AI-generated art. The company will rely on publishers to self-label works using standardized metadata rather than deploying an AI checker to flag content automatically.

Marc DeBevoise, OverDrive’s new CEO, framed the filters as a compromise between addressing reader concerns and embracing AI’s potential benefits, such as improved content recommendations and localization. He argued that AI could lower barriers to information access, citing audiobook localization as an example where AI might reduce costs. However, he acknowledged limitations, noting that human-narrated audiobooks remain preferable to synthetic narration despite cost constraints.

Libby’s catalog includes over 6 million books, with most published before the emergence of modern large language models. DeBevoise estimated that works published before 2020 or 2022 are not AI-generated by definition, but he acknowledged the risk of AI titles entering the catalog via intermediaries like Draft2Digital, which supplies self-published books to multiple storefronts under a policy allowing AI-generated works if they undergo "extensive editing from a human."

The app’s AI filters will include an option to exclude machine translations, but this depends on accurate labeling by publishers. OverDrive does not directly host self-published uploads like Amazon or Kobo, which have taken stricter stances against AI slop by restricting uploads or rejecting AI-generated books outright.