The Australian author expresses being “lively alive” and feels violated knowing their work was allegedly included in a pirated dataset used to train AI.
Parents company of Facebook and Instagram faces a copyright infringement lawsuit from US authors like Ta-Nehisi Coates and comedian Sarah Silverman.
In a court application from January, CEO Mark Zuckerberg reportedly approved using the book’s online archive, Libgen Dataset, to train the company’s AI models, despite warnings from the AI executive team of its pirated nature.
In the Atlantic, Searchable databases have been released for authors to check if their work is in the Libgen Dataset.
Books by notable Australian authors, including former Prime Ministers Malcolm Turnbull, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, and John Howard, are among those published.
Holden Sheppard, author of Invisible Boys, a popular young adult novel adapted to a Stan series, expressed disappointment that his work was utilized in training meta AI.
He expressed his disapproval of his books being used without consent to train generative AI systems, considering it unethical and illegal and calling for fair compensation for the authors.
He emphasized the need for AI-specific laws in Australia to ensure compliance with existing copyright laws by generative AI developers or deployers.
Journalist and author Tracey Spicer discovered two of her books, including one that addresses artificial intelligence, were included in the dataset without her consent.
She called for a class-action lawsuit in Australia and urged affected authors to contact local federal lawmakers.
After the newsletter promotion
She criticized big technology companies for profiting while reducing writers to a serf-like status, highlighting the financial struggles of many authors.
Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, an award-winning film critic and author of several books, expressed her frustration and called for government action.
The Australian Authors Association urged Facebook to advocate for authors whose work was used without permission.
Society Chair Sophie Cunningham contacted affected authors and condemned the treatment of writers by large companies profiting from their work.
Cunningham criticized Meta’s dealings with writers as exploitative and called for fair treatment and compensation for authors.
Mehta declined to comment on the ongoing lawsuit and is reportedly lobbying for AI training on copyrighted data via executive orders.
Previously, Melbourne publisher Black Inc. Books raised concerns about the use of AI in the industry, with some companies entering agreements with publishers for content use.
Source: www.theguardian.com
