Highlights - MARK GOTTLIEB - Vice President & Literary Agent at Trident Media Group

"I was talking about this with someone the other day, about how there could be AI narrating audiobooks. But what I think it really comes down to is someone with a soul. It's not just the meat and potatoes of the plot of the book, but the actual quality of storytelling, the character development, the message behind the story, things like that. You know, some of the subtle nuances that I think machines will never be able to do, because they'll never have a soul. You know, they'll never be able to fully replicate. They can get very, very close.

The Writers Strike in Hollywood. The main reason why the writers are striking, of course, is because it comes down to the bottom line, which is, you know, the dollar. The fact that studios don't want to be precluded from being able to use AI in the place of writers is what's really salting the wounds, but I don't see it, at least not in the very, very near future happening. One, because, like we talked about, no soul in the machine, but two, the technology is a predictive technology. So it's sort of like you ask it a question or you begin writing a sentence and it can predict the next five words and then kind of build upon that. And it can only draw upon what's already out there in its existing knowledge base from the internet, from whatever people ask it. It's not going to have lived experiences like you and me. And the technology is not at the point yet where I think it could be writing a novel. There are a lot of text limitations to it, but I think if it ever did come to pass... Let's imagine a world where AI is like there was a ghost in the machine and could convince almost anyone. I think you'd have a lot of pushback from readers. You'd have a lot of pushback from writers and people who work within the publishing industry."

Mark Gottlieb is a Vice President and top-selling literary agent at Trident Media Group. He represents a wide range of authors across genres, many of whom have been awarded prestigious prizes and have secured places on the New York Times bestseller list. Among other achievements, Mark has successfully optioned and sold books to film production companies where they were adapted into blockbuster hits, beloved by audiences and critics.

In addition to his work as an agent, Mark lectures on his experiences and craft at such noted venues as the Yale Writers’ Workshop, Cambridge University’s MSt in Creative Writing program, Columbia Publishing Course, and Sarah Lawrence College Writing Institute. He founded Emerson College's Wilde Press, and the  Stamford Literature, Arts & Culture Salon (SLACS), where he currently serves as president.

www.tridentmediagroup.com/agents/mark-gottlieb
www.tridentmediagroup.com

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