Since Parmy Olson won last year’s Financial Times and Schroders Business Book of the Year Award with Supremacy, about tech companies’ battle for control of artificial intelligence, she has started using large language models more frequently in her own research. “[They] can be a helpful tool for bouncing ideas around, [exploring] angles, and getting historic references to make comparisons,” she says.

As the 2025 edition of the prize launches, the debate over whether generative AI is a threat or an opportunity for authors is consuming the industry.

“We’re keenly aware these technologies can be used in ways that will dilute the market for human-authored works,” says Umair Kazi, director of advocacy and policy at The Authors Guild, the US professional organisation for writers. “But at the same time they are hugely useful tools.”