Industry & Advocacy News

Authors Guild Condemns Bot-Powered Book Bans in Texas

Artificial Intelligence Book Banning

January 14, 2026

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In Texas, several school districts have been using artificial intelligence in an attempt to “comply” with book restriction laws—including HB 900 (the “READER Act”), SB 12 (which relates to DEI efforts at schools), and SB 13 (which outlines materials deemed “inappropriate” in public and charter school libraries). HB 900 required books to be rated as “sexually relevant” or “sexually explicit,” but has since been found partially unconstitutional because of a lawsuit brought by the Authors Guild and others.

As the Texas Freedom to Read Project has reported, “School administrators are using AI generation software to create summaries of the books, to analyze titles for ‘violations’ of the bills (including Senate Bill 12, which doesn’t pertain to library materials), and to examine titles that exist in the library catalogs already.”

The problem: AI can’t read for nuance, theme, or literary merit the way a librarian can. It pulls from what’s available online, which often means lists of already-banned books, creating a dangerous spiral: “Someone found this book inappropriate for their community; therefore, it must be inappropriate for ours.” This reliance on AI to interpret laws that are themselves broad, vague, and contested will inevitably lead to the inappropriate removal of many books, with different districts reaching different results, and no clear path for libraries or authors to understand what compliance even means.

The Authors Guild will be monitoring this situation and working with groups such as the Texas Freedom to Read Project and the Right to Read Network in the coming year. If you are an author impacted by this, please get in touch with the Authors Guild at staff@authorsguild.org.