The Quebec publishing world is mobilizing to protect intellectual property and craftsmanship. Three major players in the literary landscape, XYZ, Hurtubise, and Multimondes (all members of the Hurtubise Group), have officially declared war on AI-generated content.

A firm commitment to human art

Through a joint statement released on social media, these companies are committing to three fronts:

1. Content: Categorical refusal to publish works incorporating artificial intelligence.
2. Team: Maintaining a 100% human process for translation, revision, proofreading and illustration.
3. Selection: Only manuscripts conceived and written by human beings will now be reviewed by their editorial committees.

The Regroupement pour l'art humain (RAH) is gaining ground

This announcement is part of a protest movement that began at the last Montreal Book Fair. Worried about their contracts disappearing in favor of algorithms, many artists founded the RAH .

To date, around sixty publishers have joined this common front. For comic book artist Jean-Paul Eid, this rallying is essential to guarantee to readers that their purchases support real creators and not "robots" used to reduce production costs.

A divided industry

Despite this wave of resistance, the community remains fragmented on the issue:

Position	Publishing houses
Total ban	XYZ, Hurtubise, Multimondes, Pratico-Pratiques.
Assumed use	The clever ones (continue to integrate AI into their processes).
Thinking	Groupe Bertrand (plans a review of practices by 2026).

The debate highlights a growing ethical tension: on one side, technological efficiency; on the other, the protection of copyright and human sensitivity, deemed irreplaceable by the signatories of the movement.