Uhlík vs Křemík · Czech podcast about artificial intelligence

Publisher Martin Bedřich: AI is flooding the book market, but it will not replace the human in a book

Episode 14 · 23 July 2026 · 1:12:43 · Guest: Martin Bedřich

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Artificial intelligence can already write and narrate an entire audiobook, and it helps with translations and indexes. Martin Bedřich, editor-in-chief and managing director of the Portál publishing house, explained on the Uhlík vs Křemík podcast where AI helps publishing, where it hurts it, and why quality publishers might ultimately benefit from a cleaned-up market.

A flood of cheap AI audiobooks

Bedřich also follows the world of audiobooks, which he now sees as a full part of literature. Over the past six months he has noticed an unpleasant trend there: audiobooks that artificial intelligence both generates and narrates. They are made at the snap of a finger, cost next to nothing, and thanks to their low price and sheer number they reach the top spots on sales sites. Quality titles with paid authors, actors and music get buried beneath them.

In his view, regulation, clear labelling and adequate filters are all missing. He believes listeners will find their way within two or three years, but he warns: "But that is the time when the quality publishers will disappear, because they cannot withstand this."

He does not, however, see audiobooks themselves as competition. According to qualified estimates, e-books hold about ten percent of the market, while audiobooks, he says, have a larger share and grow every year, because they reach people who would not otherwise read: drivers, people on the road or people with dyslexia. So they do not cannibalise the print world, they expand it.

Translations, editing and indexes

Translation, according to Bedřich, is one of the areas AI entered first, already with the earliest predecessors of language models. He has had good experiences with AI translations and points out that human translations are not flawless either. No text goes straight to the printer; after every translator and every editor it is revised and corrected again. He therefore suggests comparing imperfect human work with the imperfect work of a model and asking which one needs more work.

He expects AI to make book production much cheaper, because translation is among the most expensive items. Translators who turned out fifteen books a year without much thought will, in his view, be finished, but the money saved can go to the best ones. "If I know that I will save on ten books thanks to artificial intelligence, then I will gladly give a translator 450 crowns per page, if it is the book that really will be a literary event."

He himself uses AI mainly for research and for indexes, which he used to compile by hand over entire days. He welcomes a faster and more reliable index, although he admits that the manual work let him get to know a book from the inside.

Why a publishing house still makes sense

Asked why so many books are published, Bedřich answers from two angles. For part of the market, publishing is a business, and cheaper inputs thanks to AI will keep it going for a while. For publishers with well-thought-out values, such as Portál with its focus on psychotherapy, mental health and spirituality, it is mainly about a mission. A cleaned-up market would help their books, because they would no longer be drowned out.

A publishing house, he says, gains new significance as an institution that someone stands behind. "Here you have a black box AI that spits out some advice, you can think it is good or not, but you have no idea why you should think so." He contrasts this with advice from a book signed by a person, backed by a process and years of practice. He also stresses the length of a book: a week spent with one book is, in his view, an experience that people used to quick swiping are depriving themselves of.

AI in psychotherapy

Portál publishes psychology and therapy titles and is preparing the book AI v psychoterapii (AI in Psychotherapy) by Tereza Komárková for the autumn. Bedřich appreciates that the author approaches the technology openly while defending the human element of therapy. Chatbots, he says, can create an accepting environment and recognise emotions, which has great value. On its own, however, this has no healing potential. A therapist has to know when to push back and also when to stay silent, and a machine cannot do that yet.

You can listen to the full conversation with Martin Bedřich on the Uhlík vs Křemík podcast.

The episode is in Czech. Czech page with chapters, quotes and the full transcript