Computers and Indexing

As advanced as computers are becoming, they can really only create concordances, not indexes. An index is different from a simple concordance which is a list of each occurrence of certain keywords. An indexer will analyze the text to find connections between concepts. This complex analysis not only identifies related ideas, but can synthesize concepts in a way that computers (including AI) cannot. Current AI is a large language model, which cannot understand the required subtleties and nuances a human can when dealing with texts. Sometimes indexers need to pull out topics that are not spelled out in the text, which is something that AI cannot do at this time. 

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However, indexers do utilize dedicated indexing software such as Sky Index Professional, which aids in the constructing, sorting, editing, and formatting of indexes. This type of software is created for indexers so they can focus on analyzing the text and creating a high-quality index.

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Artificial Intelligence (AI) Policy

​There is a lot of concern about copyrights and the use of AI/LLMs. For your protection and mine, please note the following:

• I do not use Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools.

• I do not authorize you, your company, or anyone working within or for your company to feed my work into any AI program for any reason.

• I do not consent that my work be used to ‘train’ AI.

• I do not authorize any company you or your publisher hires for subcontracting publishing services or for anyone working within said companies regardless of national origin or location to feed my work into any AI program for any reason.

 

Not only has AI/LLM proven to be unreliable, but it is also unethical. I will not feed your work or mine into any AI program; your work is 100% safe with me.

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For more information about AI and indexing, please refer to the American Society of Indexing AI homepage, or more specifically, ASI's Statement on AI and Book Indexing and the American Society for Indexing's (ASI) white paper: "LLM-Generated Book Indexes: Can They Replace Professionally Created Indexes?"