As the publishing industry continues to grapple with the best ways to use AI, Wiley has introduced Wiley AI Partnerships, described as "a co-innovation program." According to the company’s announcement, made at the Frankfurt Book Fair, the initiative “aims to develop new AI applications, assistants, and agents in partnership with innovative companies, to empower researchers and practitioners and help drive the pace, efficiency and accuracy of scientific discovery.”
The program, the company said, aims to create programs and tools for researchers who want to use AI to improve their work. “Researchers and practitioners are seeking more than generic AI tools—they need relevant applications that enhance and support their research endeavors," Josh Jarrett, SVP and general manager for AI Growth at Wiley. "This new partnership program is designed to meet these needs by inviting collaboration with start-ups and scale-ups to deliver specialized AI solutions."
Wiley’s first agreements is with Potato, an AI research assistant powered by peer-reviewed literature. Under the agreement, Wiley will give Potato access to some of its relevant content to help it develop well-defined tools that researchers want. While Jarrett couldn’t go into the specifics of the agreement with Potato, he noted that each partnership Wiley enters will have a unique business model when new products are taken to market, citing a revenue share as one possibility. The objective, Jarrett emphasized, is to create a deal that is “a win-win-win relationship among Wiley, its partners, and researchers.”
Jarrett said that Wiley is in talks with other possible collaborators, with its emphasis currently targeting Wiley’s strongest disciplines of life sciences/pharmaceuticals, health science, food science, engineering, chemistry, materials, and veterinary science.
Wiley leaders have made involvement in AI a priority as of late. Within the last year, the company signed two content-licensing deals with tech companies worth a total of $44 million, and CEO Matthew Kissner said the company is prepared to act on other AI opportunities. Jarrett said that while no one can predict how AI will play out, the partnership program is another way for Wiley to learn about AI’s potential and to be in a position to shape the future of AI in publishing.
