Macmillan Publishers Introduced AI Assistant NOA
Macmillan staff were introduced to NOA, an AI chatbot, with a party, but it was later killed due to being unhelpful and unreliable. The company is now attempting to integrate Google Gemini into the publishing process.
Original reporting · wired.com
Original: “Macmillan Staff Say the Publisher Threw a Party for a Workplace AI Assistant That Was Later Killed”
Read “Macmillan Staff Say the Publisher Threw a Party for a Workplace AI Assistant That Was…” at WIRED AI →
How this was written. Diagnosis Forward wrote this article with a language model from WIRED AI’s reporting (model: @cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast); it describes that reporting rather than adding to it. The original, linked above, is the full story.
Key points from WIRED AI’s report
- Macmillan Publishers introduced an AI chatbot named NOA in January 2024, but it was later killed due to being unhelpful and unreliable.
- Macmillan is now attempting to integrate Google Gemini into the publishing process.
- Several bestselling authors have expressed concerns over the use of AI in the publishing industry, citing a lack of transparency and the potential for AI to undermine the role of human creativity and judgment.
Macmillan Publishers introduced its staff to an AI chatbot named NOA, which stands for No Ordinary Assistant, in January 2024. The introduction was marked with a party, complete with flyers, balloons, and a plate of doughnuts spelling out NOA's name.
NOA was developed by the German software company Chaptr, which is backed by Holtzbrinck, Macmillan's parent company. The AI chatbot was intended to be a closed-loop enterprise tool that would not retain or share data for model training.
Macmillan staffers were warned that NOA could hallucinate and would always need to be fact-checked by humans. Despite this, employees were encouraged to use NOA for various tasks, including composing emails and generating ideas.
However, several Macmillan employees found NOA to be unhelpful and unreliable. One employee described it as 'terrible, and no one used it.'
Later in 2024, Macmillan employees were encouraged to use NOA to generate their goals for performance reviews. However, in October 2025, the company announced that Chaptr would be sunsetting NOA.
Macmillan is now attempting to integrate Google Gemini into the publishing process. Some staffers have experimented with using Gemini to evaluate submission letters from literary agents, but the results were 'useless,' according to one editor.
Kelly Collins, vice president of communications and community at Macmillan, stated that the company takes a thoughtful approach to AI, focused on employee awareness and education while keeping people front and center. This article is based on reporting by WIRED AI.
Questions and answers
What was NOA, and what was its purpose?
NOA was an AI chatbot developed by Chaptr, intended to be a closed-loop enterprise tool for Macmillan Publishers.
Why was NOA killed?
NOA was killed due to being unhelpful and unreliable, according to several Macmillan employees.
What is Macmillan's current approach to AI?
Macmillan is now attempting to integrate Google Gemini into the publishing process, and the company claims to take a thoughtful approach to AI, focused on employee awareness and education.
