The National Library of Korea has rejected a total of 11,651 e-book submissions over the past two years as the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in publishing has surged, according to recent data. Concerns are mounting that the indiscriminate influx of so-called "click books" mass-produced by AI is undermining administrative efficiency and could increase the government's fiscal burden.
Park Joo-ok, head of the Knowledge Information Management Division at the National Library of Korea, said at a forum held by the Korean Publishers Society at Mapo Central Library in Seoul on the 29th of last month that "the surge in AI-generated publications has posed an unprecedented challenge to the national legal deposit system." The forum was titled "The Publishing Ecosystem in the AI Era: Finding a Way Between Opportunity and Crisis."
Legal deposit is a system that requires newly published books to be submitted to institutions such as the National Library of Korea. Under the current Library Act, publishers must submit two copies — one for preservation and one for public service — and are compensated at the list price for the service copy. The system aims to collect and preserve all books produced in the current era at the national level for future generations.
According to the National Library of Korea, 6,523 e-book submissions were rejected last year, up 27 percent from 5,128 in 2024. Over the past two years, the most common reason for rejection was "simple editing of publicly available materials," with 4,113 cases, followed by "duplicate submissions of identical materials" (692 cases) and "failure to meet formal requirements" (674 cases). The influx of low-quality AI-generated publications is placing a serious strain on the national knowledge information management system.
As AI-generated e-books are being submitted in large numbers, compensation payments for legal deposit have also been rising. E-book deposit compensation, which stood at just 12.13 million won when the Online Materials Deposit Act took effect in 2016, soared to 262.76 million won last year. If the submission of AI-generated publications accelerates, the fiscal burden is expected to grow exponentially. "The current legal deposit system obligates the government to compensate and preserve even publications mass-produced by AI," Park said. "This not only wastes public funds but also creates a structural contradiction, lowering the quality of national knowledge resources and the efficiency of their management."
This has prompted calls for reform, including a shift to a free legal deposit system for online materials such as e-books. Under the proposal, publishers would submit only one preservation copy of an e-book — down from the current two copies for preservation and public service — and do so without compensation. The aim is to prevent the massive influx of "click books" submitted for the sake of compensation. "Online materials for preservation purposes should be submitted free of charge, while online materials for library user services should be acquired at fair cost, creating a structure in which publishers and authors receive genuine revenue," Park stressed.
