Imagine if we could just not use AI excessively. Not even because of situations like this but because it has a catastrophic impact on the environment. That's my personal issue. The over reliance on AI in general is itself harmful and bigoted given the communities most impacted by environmental crises.

The book cover problem. I so relate ngl. But those I just put on Kindle.

never even heard of them before, but that’s a wicked good response

No, Fable is not for everyone, but for those who can afford iOS. It doesn't work on Android and, in many countries of the world, Apple is quite pricey. On Android, for years now (it has been reported to them), you cannot see your own text or others' because it seems to be the same colour as the background, so no way to participate on a bookclub where you cannot interact with others. Shamefully, this app is thought for first world countries and people with iOS. I have to say I thought that had changed and tried it again today. Well, the issue persists. Shame, but all those who use Fable for their bookclubs can only have members with iOS. How many people are left behind because of this?

Thank you for not letting your own opinion be The Way and for seeking more diverse perspectives. A common phrase among those who pursue social justice and equity is impact > intent. I think it's fair to initially have a knee-jerk, angry reaction to something like this, especially considering how many of us view our books and reading as semi-sacred and were hurt by this. However, the people who can't let go of that initial response and form a more rounded opinion remind me exactly of the people who scream about books they'd never read and try to get them banned. It's rational to be angry when you are hurt, but it's harmful to everyone when you hold on to that anger and let it shape policies, or determine which business (or person) lives or dies. Yes, that's a stretch, but does no one else see certain red-faced belligerence and expect the pitchfork, anticipate the flame? Why do we condemn it when they do it (as we should), but not try to tamp it down within us, as well?

Fable has never been my bag but I do appreciate how they are responding to this and turning towards showcasing the work of real people instead of AI in response to this situation is actually really cool so kudos to them

Wow those summaries are pretty bad, but I do think it’s awesome that they responded with actions to fix it.

Storygraph could never. Mainly cause they wouldn't have the money or team to set up an ai, but still...

Yeah, no. Adding "playfulness" into an AI model's responses doesn't equate to centering whiteness, and specifically cis het male whiteness. You weren't told to broaden your horizon's and read more books by Black authors or featuring Black protagonists. I doubt anybody was encouraged to read more books written by foreign authors or differently abled authors. I'm disappointed that the Fable team isn't specifically addressing the issues that their app centers whiteness as the default, nor the fact that they just want to tweak the AI model instead of getting rid of it all together. This all is truly saddening because I'd been using Fable for the past year and thought I was slowly developing a community, but as a cis het Black woman, I won't stay where I'm not wanted.

As a Latina, If it wasn't intentional they addressed it. They apologized it, what more do people want? This is the reason why I had to get off a bookstagram. Because the book community is so damn sensitive. It was a mistake computer generated and it was corrected. It was addressed and they gave people the option to sit there in a town hall meeting. So anyone else that still says that that's not enough, may just be a little too sensitive to the world.

There was a town meeting yesterday at 4:00 p.m. not sure if anyone else attended?. I haven't watched the entire video so I'm not sure if you mentioned it😊

They updated everything. However , do people really think that humans are going to sit there and edit every single person summary? How else do you expect these summaries to say something if it's not AI generated?

As someone who didnt know the issue until I saw the response videos on the fable home page i appreciated your summary! Fable is my favorite way to track my books and tv shows. I like that they took ownership of a problem I was just unaure what the problem was until now. As you communicated, I like how they took ownership and will continue to use the app.

He seems like a solid dude.

I have received both of the first two in the past and I actually chuckled at them. However, I am 45 and a Black woman. It kind of makes me wonder if the AI is trained on older comedic trends that don't exactly follow the demographic that they are trying to cater to. My teenager has said many times that what I laugh at is insulting and I find young humor (memes, tiktoks, etc.) annoying instead of funny. I showed the summaries to a couple friends my age and they thought they were humorous as well. Different jokes for different folks. Young Gen X tends to lean towards sarcastic humor, though (it's why we use 100 emojis on social media so everyone knows we're joking). Look at old videos of Norm MacDonald, a huge comic from my day. That's 100% what kind of joke I thought they were emulating when I read when I received mine. 🤷🏾 I appreciate Fable's response and love the app, but I don't see the racism at all.

The response from fable was good in my opinion. They didn't ignore or dance around what happened and then had a plan of action. While I know and understand the talk about AI-it's an important discussion to have, I wonder if everyone knows what they are asking when they say they want no part. The option to opt out is great middle ground because you can make the conscience decision and see if certain features are no longer available, which in some cases will have people opting back in.

I love Fable. I also use Bookly. They are both really great app's and offer different features i love.

Who needs AI judgment? Oh what a world

I'm personally waiting to see how the town hall and the next few months go. I think their response is promising, but I'm gonna wait to see how the communities harmed feel about the steps taken amd the follow-thru. The big kicker for me is the use of generative AI. I'd like to know more about whether they're using and outside gAI or if they're going to go the Storygraph route of building in-house.

Fable has no website support, no computer based app but despite that I decided to try to use it in 2025... When I tried to upload my library last year, it didn't count books I'd read more than once which is why I decided to start clean in 2025. Then I tried to put in the very first book I finished this year. Neither the book nor the author were in it. Soooo... no. I didn't even know about this stuff... Yikes. AI is not something that should ever be an automated part of generative public content. That job belongs to humans because... they talk to humans (usually).

I remember getting a town hall notification / announcement and a box for anything they want changed. I joined NYE so I had no idea what was going on

I can def see why people would be offended. And I do think Fable has handled their responses well! This whole scenario reminds of the movie "Man of the Year" with Robin Williams - where the tech company missed something and the electronic voting said the winner was someone else because candidates had 2 repeating letters in their last names and the AI/algo went alphabetical. If I recall, the glitch was ONLY caught because one worker decided to test with massive data points - which is what we see here with Fable. People reading over 100 books a year have massive data points compared to someone who only reads 10 books a year. I currently don't use Fable (one of my goals for the year is to find one+ reading apps to replace goodreads). But I love the idea of these summaries! And I hope they're able to bring them back! I would personally love to have the option of a snarky/potentially hurt feelings wrap up because, well, that's the type of person I am, lol.

Interesting situation. Thanks for your thoughts and measured response. It’s refreshing to see a level headed response on the internet. AI is permeating all facets of our life. The intention was good, but AI is still a wild beast. Hard to fully understand and utilize in the best and safest ways. Thanks Laura!

At first, I thought it was on increased speed 😂

The Fable situation is a great example of how poorly we've done collecting the data to make these AI and how in their current forms they can only perpetuate and increase the subconscious (and conscious) racism in our society. If a human made these summaries someone else could point out what was hopefully unconscious bias or they could explain why the "playful joke" won't land in this instance. I'm not an expert but I also don't know how you'd reset a parameter to make the AI understand why these burbs aren't appropriate or how they are offensive. That said, given the market, I don't fault Fable for using the AI or for the AI doing what AI has continually done. The transparency around the AI and the decisions the company has made so far all indicate good faith, and a commitment to a mission statement I agree with. So currently I feel comfortable continuing my use of the app and delving into those book groups I really appreciate. But I'm keeping an eye on it as we move forward.

I DNF'd more books this past year than I have in my entire reading history. Usually I don't go past a few chapters, but one I was halfway through and had to debate for a full day whether I was done or not- Pet Sematary. I read too many damn books about or involving kids dying and I just could not do it again.

As a Black woman I appreciate Fable's response. I never received an offensive summary but I got a lot of snarky ones. AI is here to stay so we need to learn how to control it before it controls us. Imagine if we could teach AI to be empathetic and supportive.

I never got my end of the year summary 😔 I was so sad. I wish they would have cut the ai instead of cutting the summary’s for those who hadn’t gotten theirs.

Omg! Just hearing about this. Following.

We need to also remember that AI is trained on human creations, so all the biases and negativity will be built right in to what it creates. AI is just a mirror of our society... in other words, we're all responsible for AIs offensive responses 🤷🏽‍♀️

While it’s good that he (the Fable spokesperson) made this frank apology and is trying to do better, people also aren’t obligated to giving someone/something a second chance after being hurt especially when it is hurt in a way that plays into societal inequalities. The problem here isn’t just with Fable, or just with their summaries; it’s with how racism (and bigotry in other forms too) is inherently built into AI, and automation, when the persons creating it are not without inherent biases. It’s a larger issue that this is only a facet of; good that they are fixing the issue for their app, but I think it’s fair for those harmed by societal bigotries to not want to give a second chance to those who wronged them. (Especially when there’s options run BY Black women like StoryGraph) also I think it’s worth it to consider that for those experiencing societal bigotry and prejudices-like racism- it isn’t a “second chance” when their lived experience is filled with thousands of micro and macro aggressions. It’s a thousandth, millionth chance. Of course, a reading app isn’t the end-all, be-all of societal progress, but I think it’s still valid to expect better.

I agree with your response to this issue. Thank you for the measured response. You are correct, the representative took responsibility for what happened, and is now trying to fix the problem. Since they are using AI (which I do not agree with...pretty much at all), it is a baby. When our children make mistakes, we do not disown them. We help them correct their behaviour and teach them a better way. SO, with analogy, the Fable group are now trying to teach their AI baby not to be racist, misogynist and all the other -ists out there. I stopped using Fable for other reasons, and because of this response...it gives me more hope that the app will continue to grow and get better. We need to stop "end of the world" rhetoric. If you do not like something, then stop using it. You do not have to become an anti-Fable apologist for everone else. Move on. That's what I did, when I did. It wasn't for me, and that was that. Thank you. Really appreciate your view on this topic. Might come back for me.

I stopped using Fable after this, not because I'm cancelling them, I saw their statements in my feed and thought they took the correct plan of action in a timely manner, but before this I already had an issue with 90% of the app's features working with AI. So many people say "I love the app but i wish it didn't use so much ai" like no you all seem to not care about the heavy use of ai, if it bothered you you'd stop, which is what i had to do because it bothered me so much.

How, exactly, is this causing harm? I can see some people being offended that their reading choices are being judged, even mocked. I'm interested if it would have the effect the other way around- If all you read were books by straight white authors and the summary told you to try a POC for a change- would people be outraged or would they say that AI is correct? People's preferences are just that. (unpopular opinion, I know) However if you are letting a computer upset you to the point where it is causing you harm- then that's on you. When AI truly takes over and Skynet uses us as fossil fuel, a few snarky words are going to be the least of our trouble.

To be honest, cancel culture is just so stupid to me. The way Fable apologized about. It was actually very mature and very nice. The fact that people tend to point immediately without giving chances is ridiculous to me.

I didn't know anything about this before your video. I usually use StoryGraph, but am in a book club on Fable. I'm glad the Fable team responded well.

I had a lot of technical issues with Fable and when I asked for help they told me I wasn't experiencing what I was experiencing because they had already fixed that. All the time I had put into importing, etc. was wasted and I was done with it.

I agree--this has nothing to do with Fable and the team, but with AI itself

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This is so interesting, because I signed up for Fable and I read a lot of Christian non-fiction, and I found both summaries I was given ignorant/slightly offensive to my faith (while it was obviously trying to be funny). I brushed it off, but didn’t realize other people were having similar issues. It’s interesting that it was an AI problem…

I think the summaries are completely problematic, but I also really appreciate their quick and (seemingly) compassionate response. I really appreciate the removal of AI. AI rarely works or is good. Anyone who writes off Fable solely for this should also write off Goodreads considering how problematic Amazon is (and they never apologize).

I agree - great response! I have been working on an integration between a software we use at work and ChatGPT to create a "Which famous person are you most like?" personality quiz for a team building event. I tested it yesterday and kept being told I was like Elon Musk. I had to scrap that idea. If there is any possibility that the response requires nuance, you can't use AI unless you are able to teach the model that nuance. It isn't that smart yet.

I agree on mistakes happen and we should give people a chance to correct their mistakes. Fable seems like they are trying to correct the mistake and not just writing it off, unlike SMP who took months to even respond to readers' demands.

Fable has absolutely stellar customer support and awareness. they were so quick to work with me when i was having issues with the app and my goodreads transfer of reviews, i sent them an export of my goodreads so their programmers could work out how to incorporate emojis in the code of the transfer. I think their blurbs were funny and im kinda sad to see they are dialing down the humor but if it was offending people... guess thats what has to happen and they care enough about their users to make the change....unlike goodreads which has been in the stone age since the dawn of time 😅

It was obvious that it was AI generated. I love the app and I think the company took ownership and responsibility which shows that they sincerely want to do better.

Amazing informations... also In 2025 I highly recommend everyone read Your Life Your Game by Keezano. It beautifully shows how connecting with God and building meaningful relationships can lead to spiritual growth and success in both your personal and professional life. This book truly changed my life..a must-read.

Apparently AI doesn’t care about feelings . You are so right lol. It’s so judgy. Glad they are fixing it

If they said hey why don't you read black authors would that be ok. Or if they said hey are you ever going to pick up a LGBTQ+ book would that be ok. Or is it not ok because they suggested white people and straight white men. I think they were trying to be funny and poking fun at the woke people. People need to stop being so sensitive though.

Or ebooks nowadays you can click on “chap 1” of the table of contents and just go right to the story. I’m sorry, but I am pretty blessed and books don’t tend to trigger me, and I literally just flip the page. It may not affect me much but it could seriously help someone else. The first video was just so unaware. 12:46

Honestly their response seemed honest they should accounatabilty and apologiesed. They also didnt put on tears or made it about them. I keep forgetting to update fable