The Authors Guild Launches a Survey on Generative AI and Authors’ Rights
The Authors Guild seeks feedback through a Public Survey on a pressing issue: the use of authors’ works without permission to train AI that can generate books/articles. They said, “Companies have scraped millions of copyrighted books/articles and copied them without permission to train generative AI. We are conducting a survey and would like to hear from you.”
Even though AI can be helpful in some cases (such as creating audiobooks from existing ebooks, saving authors time and money), it can also be harmful when original works are copied.
The Authors Guild believes that:
“Artificial intelligence machines capable of generating text-based works pose a serious threat to the writing profession. Generative technologies built using vast amounts of copyrighted works without the permission of or compensation to authors and creators can cheaply and easily produce works that compete with—and displace—human-authored books, journalism, and other works. The market dilution caused by AI-generated works will ultimately result in a shrinking of the profession as fewer human authors will be able to sustain a living practicing their craft and shut out important, diverse voices. Beyond the economic impact on writers, the unregulated development and use of generative AI technologies will lower the quality of books, journalism, and public discourse fundamental to democratic culture.
The Authors Guild believes that it is crucial for our culture and the future of democracy to ensure that our literary arts remain vibrant and diverse. To protect the future of writing, we are actively lobbying for sensible policies and regulations governing the development and use of generative AI. At the same time, we are educating government officials, legislators, authors, and the public about the potential impacts of generative AI, and equipping our members with the knowledge and tools they need to navigate this new landscape.”
In the article where you can read this statement, you can also find their advocacy efforts against AI.
In its most recent effort, the Authors Guild calls on the U.S. Copyright Office to request consent and compensation for AI Training.