Our approach to artificial intelligence

At the Walker Books Group, we believe in the power of human creativity to make

extraordinary books for children and young people. Across the world, our business is

united in our purpose: bring authors’ and illustrators’ ideas to life and create

excellent, high-quality books that children love.

We want to be clear. We do not see AI as a replacement for the imagination, talent,

lived experience or distinctive voice of our authors, illustrators and other creative

partners. We do not use generative AI to replace their creative contribution, and we

will respect and advocate for their intellectual property. We believe decisions about

what to publish, how to publish it, and how creative work is developed should

remain the responsibility of people. We oppose wholeheartedly the unauthorised

use of their work to train AI systems.

We see artificial intelligence as a tool that may help us work more effectively and

bring our books to more readers. We will explore operational uses for AI thoughtfully

and responsibly, with a focus on ways we might improve repetitive processes and

create efficiencies across our businesses. Any use of AI must meet the same

standards of quality, accuracy, safety and care that readers, parents and

caregivers, teachers, librarians and retailers expect from the Walker Books Group.

We will keep people, creativity and quality at the heart of our publishing and who

we are as a business.

As this technology develops, we will continue to listen, learn and work with our

creative community, industry partners, and talented staff across the globe. Our

guiding principle will remain the same: to support brilliant human storytelling, to

make the very best books for children everywhere, and to ensure that we’re taking

every opportunity to get those books into the hands of as many children as we can.

The Walker Books Group is made up of Candlewick Press, Holiday House, Peachtree

Publishing, Walker Books Ltd, and Walker Books Australia.