Libby will filter out AI content, kind of

At a glance:

• Libby will add settings that let patrons hide AI‑generated books, AI‑narrated audiobooks, machine‑translated titles and AI‑created cover art.
• OverDrive relies on publishers to self‑label AI content rather than using an automated checker.
• Audiobooks, now half of Libby usage, could be expanded to new languages with AI‑assisted localisation.

What OverDrive announced

OverDrive’s new CEO, Marc DeBevoise, told The Verge that the company is preparing a set of AI content controls for its consumer‑facing app, Libby. The controls will appear in the app’s Settings menu and give readers a simple toggle for each of four AI‑related categories:

• AI‑authored books
• AI‑narrated audiobooks
• Machine‑translated titles
• AI‑generated cover art

The aim, according to DeBevoise, is to give both librarians and patrons clear visibility into how a work was created and the option to opt out of any AI‑derived material.

How the AI filters will work

Rather than deploying a proprietary AI detector, OverDrive will depend on publishers to flag AI‑generated titles via standardized metadata. This mirrors the approach taken by Draft to Digital, the self‑publishing intermediary that supplies most indie titles to OverDrive, Apple Books and Google Play Books. Draft to Digital already permits AI‑generated books if they have undergone “extensive editing from a human,” meaning some AI titles are already trickling into Libby’s catalog.

If a title is correctly labeled, the new filters will automatically hide it when a user disables the corresponding toggle. The machine‑translation filter works the same way, but only if the translation metadata is accurate—a point critics note could be a weak link in practice.

Industry context and challenges

Libby’s catalog now exceeds six million titles and has been borrowed more than a billion times, the vast majority of which were published before large‑language models became mainstream. DeBevoise points out that “everything before 2020 or 2022 is by definition not AI.” Yet the market is shifting fast: Amazon limited the daily upload quota for self‑published authors in 2023 to curb “AI slop,” and Kobo’s CEO Michael Tamblyn recently disclosed that the platform rejects roughly half of self‑published submissions over AI concerns.

OverDrive does not allow authors to upload directly, which shields it from the flood of unvetted AI titles that Amazon and Kobo face. Still, the reliance on Draft to Digital means AI‑generated works can reach Libby as long as they carry the required human‑editing label.

Impact on users and libraries

For patrons, the new toggles promise a more transparent reading experience. Librarians can configure defaults for their entire patron base, ensuring community standards are respected without manual curation of each title. The move also reflects OverDrive’s belief that AI can be a force multiplier for localisation. DeBevoise cites audiobook translation as a prime example: “It’s a great opportunity for taking domestic into international and international into domestic.”

Audiobooks already represent just 15 percent of Libby’s catalog but account for roughly half of all app usage, underscoring their importance. While DeBevoise prefers human voice actors for narration, he acknowledges that scaling to dozens or hundreds of languages with synthetic voices would become cost‑prohibitive without AI assistance.

Looking ahead

The rollout of the AI filters will likely be incremental, with OverDrive monitoring adoption rates and the accuracy of publisher‑provided metadata. If the system proves effective, it could set a precedent for other digital‑lending platforms grappling with the same AI‑generated content surge. Conversely, any mislabeling or gaps in the metadata could erode trust, prompting libraries to reconsider how they curate digital collections in an AI‑rich publishing landscape.