The Internet is flooded by AI models like Chat GPT, and the reviews are mixed. While some people consider it ideal for analytical and decision-making tasks, several others have accused these models of piracy, lack of creativity, and limited contextual understanding. One such industry that’s witnessing a tough time with AI models is the book industry.
After AI-oriented Japanese manga sparked controversy in Japan, publishers/authors have now highlighted the fact that these AI models are being trained on their books without their permission.
Authors Guild, America’s oldest and largest organization working to support writers, has apparently written an open letter to top AI development companies like OpenAI, Meta, Alphabet, IBM, and Microsoft. In their letter, they focused on how the companies should ask for their permission to use the copyrighted data for training the AI models. They must also give some compensation for using their data for the AI training regime.
Besides ChatGPT, Google has also been accused of piracy for training their AI chatbot, Bard, and other models. The technological company was blamed for illegally accessing restricted websites and violating copyright rules. Other than the unauthorized access, authors also blamed the shadow libraries for being one of the sources of book piracy.
Authors Paul Tremblay and Mona Awad, who filed a lawsuit against Open AI, alleged “public domain sources and illegal shadow libraries” too for using their content without permission. The matter was also emphasized by American comedian Sarah Silverman and writers Christopher Golden and Richard Kadrey, who filed a lawsuit against AI company OpenAI and tech-giant Meta.
Besides books and novels, it seems like several databases are being used by AI models too. As per the Fagen Wassani article, Alexandra Elbakyan, founder of Sci-Hub, has stated how her work has been “mined for research projects in AI and data mining.”
The entire dispute has raised concerns for the authors. While some have come forward to fight back against the AI companies, many have already filed a lawsuit. As of now, only time will tell whether they take any actions to safeguard the rights of authors.
Navkiran Dhaliwal is a seasoned content writer with 10+ years of experience. When she's not writing, she can be found cooking up a storm or spending time with her dog, Rain.