Barnes & Noble CEO James Daunt has learned to adapt to changes in the book publishing industry to keep his company afloat and thriving. Now, the bookseller chain faces a technological advancement that many businesses are grappling with: artificial intelligence. But he isn’t worried.
Daunt stepped into the role of CEO in 2019, when Barnes & Noble was struggling to stay competitive as some book lovers were turning to online stores, like Amazon, to purchase their next novel.
The chain, which opened its first New York City bookstore in 1917, was worth $2.2 billion at the height of its success. In 2019, it sold for $683 million and faced bankruptcy.
But the company has since had a resurgence, with 67 new stores opening in 2025 and an additional 60 stores arriving this year.
As part of NBC News’ recently launched “Business in America” series, Daunt explained to TODAY’s Jenna Bush Hager how Barnes & Noble has handled changes in the industry, including the introduction of AI.
Bush Hager, a passionate reader, expressed her worries about the rise of AI, noting that books are “very human.”
“I know you agree with that. But you have said that if the rise of AI books becomes a thing, you would be willing to sell them within your stores,” she said.
“Yes, I have actually no problem selling any book, as long as it doesn’t masquerade or pretend to be something that it isn’t, and that it has an essential quality to it, and that the customer, the reader, wants it,” he replied.
“So as long as an AI-written book says it’s an AI-written book and doesn’t pretend to be something else and isn’t ripping off somebody else, as long as that’s clearly stated and the customer wants to buy it, then we will stock them.”
The CEO added that it is plausible Barnes & Noble already stocks a few AI-written books.
“We have 300,000 titles across all of our stores. Do we think that some of those may be AI? The chances are that they are, but we’re not really conscious of them,” Daunt said.
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“At the moment, it seems unlikely to us that these AI-generated books are going to get much commercial traction. So I think it’s something that one should treat with common sense and acceptance, but not allow anything to masquerade [as].”
He added that what’s crucial “is clarity around who the author is and whether they’re a real person.”
Daunt isn’t fearful about the future of the business because he has dealt with industry changes before. He said he was 24 when he came up with the idea to open a bookstore in the United Kingdom, where he is from. He operated the independent business for over 20 years before overseeing a chain of bookstores across the pond.
He recalled being “nervous” when he became Barnes & Noble CEO in 2019. “But I know that booksellers — wherever you go in the world, it doesn’t matter if you go to Japan or Thailand or Turkey or Italy or wherever you go — booksellers are the same people. We’re a tribe,” he explained. “And I knew that that tribe was here, very firmly rooted in U.S. bookselling. And I knew that it was also within Barnes & Noble.”
Seven years later, that optimism remains. Asked if he believes books are still necessary, Daunt replied, “We are ... in a fairly difficult political moment, social moment. And I think one of the vocational essences of being a bookseller is that you sit within your communities as a place of acceptance and tolerance and kindness.”
Daunt added, “People will read digitally and people listen to audiobooks and all the rest, but the book and the creativity of authors and the effective cultural dynamism that goes alongside books will remain. Bookstores will be part of that.”
