School book banning escalates in the UK as Greater Manchester secondary school censors scores of books

> In one of the documents seen by Index, the school admits that the categorisations of the books were written using AI, writing: “Although the categorisation was generated using AI, I consider this classification to be broadly accurate.” > > Louis Coiffait-Gunn, CEO of CILIP, told Index that he was deeply concerned about a few school leaders using these methods to work out what is acceptable or not, citing the sinister use of AI, “rather than relying on a trained professional whose entire career is about working out what are the right books for different children and making sure that they’re provided.” > > He described how every child in this school is entitled under the UN Charter of Human Rights to access information appropriate for their age, as long as it’s not illegal, and that what has happened in Emily’s case sets a worrying precedent. > When Emily first started at the school, books like Heartstopper and Black Flamingo were in the library, but there wasn’t much in the way of an LGBTQ+ offering. On an open evening, she put those two books on a table. She says a parent complained to the school that he “didn’t want his son exposed to gender bending”. > > “The school defended me and defended those books and their right to be in there, and then two years later, completely forgot about it and changed their mind and said they’re inappropriate,” she said.