Defend & Publish podcast host Christine Tulley interviewed Dr. Bryan Alexander, who will be giving the Michael Sullivan Keynote at the 2026 TAA Institute for Textbook & Academic Authors on June 12, about how AI is reshaping textbook and academic publishing. Alexander is a futurist, Georgetown senior scholar, offered a broad, forward-looking view, beginning with the larger forces already destabilizing higher education: shifting demographics, changing economics, enrollment pressures, and evolving cultural attitudes toward the academy. He then surveyed the technological landscape — the maturation of ebooks, the ongoing challenge of mobile-friendly scholarship, extended reality, and open access — before zeroing in on AI’s multifaceted impact.