Another Author File Copyright Infringement - AI Scanned Her Books

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   Kenna McHughposted 12 months ago

   Joyce Maynard:
   I’ve been following, with ever-greater concern, the story of how Artificial Intelligence has slithered into our culture and taken hold.  This week brings particularly alarming news.
   
   If you had told me, fifty years ago, when I published my first book (the year was 1973; I was 19) that the day would come when books might be written by anybody without blood pumping through her veins, or a beating heart, I would have said you were crazy.  But that day has come.
   
   As many of you may know, the growing sophistication of AI techonology now allows for programs designed to replicate the voice, style, sentence structure and vocabulary of known published writers. This week came the news—thanks to research conducted by The Atlantic Magazine—that the books of hundreds , possibly thousands of writers have been scanned for the purpose of feeding the AI database in such a way that it is now possible to replicate a novel by Stephen King, or Michael Chabon, or Louise Erdrich…without any of those writers’ involvement in any way. 
   
   Or a novel by Joyce Maynard. 
   
   A search revealed yesterday that seven of my books have been scanned—illegally, without procuring rights—into an AI database for the purpose of creating AI simulations of my voice.
   
   The Authors’ Guild, of which I am a member, is pursuing legal action, as is a consortium of writers. 
   
   Meanwhile, you can google “AI assistance for writers” and find dozens of platforms promising to make it possible for aspiring writers to create books , without the need of all those pesky skills like grammar, sensitivity to style, rhythm, language, tone or an understanding of dialogue.  The technology can take care of all that.  Leaving patrons of the AI assistance sites free to concern themselves with nothing more than typing in their ideas and no doubt offering up a charge card number.
   
   I do not need to tell you how I feel about this.  It’s nothing less than the death of art.  My parents, who raised my sister and me on the literature of the Western canon, would die, themselves, if they weren’t long dead already. 
   
   There is so much more to be said about all of this, but I’ve got a day filled with writing ahead of me.  Real writing.  Not typing instructions into an AI site. I’m talking about what I’ve been doing for fifty years now, getting up at five am and putting in long days at my desk, considering every syllable, every sentence, the placement of every comma and period, the sound of the words I choose. ( Reading them out loud , alone at my desk, to hear how they sound.)
   
   There will be those who offer up all kinds of reasons why AI can be a good thing for us all.  Have at it.  In the world of art and music and literature, it can mean only one thing:  The eradication of what is uniquely human in each of us.  The death of what is most precious and beautiful, the soul and spirit with which we were born. That is irreplaceable.

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      Jan Stepanposted 12 months agoin reply to this

      Yes, yes and yes. Nothing more to add.

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      Miebakagh57posted 12 months agoin reply to this

      This is a very awful and terrible scenenario.                                    Artificial Interlligence, (AI) now seems to me as a sure plagiarism theft.                                The bottomline is that certain would be writers or authors don't know what hard work is. Their think smart moves is the most essential thrick, and evetually, their become losers at the end of the game.                                         Sorry Kenna, if AI has copy most of your books.                                    The worst thing is that the development is taking place mostly in the West and East, and in Africa.

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      Glenis Rixposted 11 months agoin reply to this

      I wholeheartedly agree with your comments.
      
      More generally, here are widespread concerns about AI could impact on our lives when computers become more intelligent than humans. The British Prime Minister has convened a conference to discuss how AI can be contained within reasonable bounds.

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   PaulGoodman67posted 12 months ago

   Yeah, things don't look good for writers and creatives generally.
   
   You'll still be free to write, of course, but AI will eventually suck most of the money out of it.
   
   AI-generated writing plus art, music, and film, will be generated within seconds for low or zero cost and human creators can't compete with that.
   
   Even when the human version is of superior quality, economics will likely win out. We saw that in the Industrial Revolution when mass-produced goods outsold the handmade versions in almost all cases because they were so much cheaper.
   
   It is pretty sad and depressing. We resemble 18th-century cottage industry weavers faced with the growth of clothing factories.

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      Kenna McHughposted 12 months agoin reply to this

      Paul, AI need regulations. WGA just signed a three-year contract with the industry. AI speculations were put in place.

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   misspatypixieposted 12 months ago

   There is a big need for some kind of ai regulation, there is no doubt about it. Things are not looking good

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      Kenna McHughposted 12 months agoin reply to this

      Yes. Writer's groups and publishing companies are taking initiatives.

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         PaulGoodman67posted 12 months agoin reply to this

         There should be compensation for the creators whose work is used to generate AI answers and projects.
         
         It will be interesting to see how the courts handle the issue as the existing copyright laws weren't designed for what AI does.
         
         Everybody wants stuff for free with the internet. That can be problematic when it's individuals but it's truly corrosive when businesses get involved.
         
         The big corporations have become experts at accessing and using info for free and then profiting from it. This was already happening but there's a considerable escalation taking place with the arrival of the new AI technology.
         
         Information = power and profit in the modern tech world.

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            Kenna McHughposted 12 months agoin reply to this

            Paul, Didn't you know everything should be free for the brotherhood (people hood.)

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               PaulGoodman67posted 12 months agoin reply to this

               It's interesting in that there's a major shift in the capitalist system happening.
               
               Previously, revenue was mainly generated through making products and selling them at a profit.
               
               Now we're seeing data becoming a commodity.

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                  Kenna McHughposted 12 months agoin reply to this

                  It's interesting how technology has shifted commodities.

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            Jan Stepanposted 11 months agoin reply to this

            Compensation for established writers' work who've already earned them tons of money doesn't help new writers who strive to get recognized in the industry and make it financially.
            
            I know it may be challenging for someone established to put themselves in the shoes of those at the beginning of their career, but I wish more people would do so...
            
            AI is the biggest threat to my generation and the coming generations. We may not have jobs in industries that once flourished with job opportunities. AI technology quite literally destroys our dreams.

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   Jodahposted 12 months ago

   Thank you for sharing this, Kenna.

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      Kenna McHughposted 12 months agoin reply to this

      Jodah, You're welcome!

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   neo_gnosisposted 12 months ago

   Regulation is required at the very least but the way things are going I only see an aesthetic regulatory policy being implemented if any because from the top down it ensures competition below. Which suits those up stairs.

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   Brenda Arledgeposted 12 months ago

   Yes, I've been hearing about this and hopefully they can stop this now.
   
   I don't see how legally they can use our work without permission or compensation.

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      Kenna McHughposted 12 months agoin reply to this

      Yes. They should compensate the authors of the original content.

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   Miebakagh57posted 11 months ago

   Stupid AI is a theft to some extend.

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   jansharesposted 11 months ago

   OMG! As a new author, excited about self-publishing my own books, this is saddening and mortifying. As an author focused on writing about the African American experience, I don't know which to worry about more: scanning or banning. Thanks for sharing, Kenna. So sorry this happened to you.

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   Zeron87posted 11 months ago

   I personally believe it would be more prudent for the AI to get data from approved databases rather than scouring from across the web to take anyone's work...
   
   But I do have a question:
   How is an AI program scanning your work any different than an human being getting a copy and trying to emulate your style?  Of course, anyone trying to steal someone else's idea and turn it as they're own is plagiarism, but where are we drawing the line between actual plagiarism and using a computer program to expedite sources for inspiration?   
   
   From what I've seen, AI still lacks my creativity, so anything it makes is derivative.  After I used ChatGTP to help with titles for a short story of mine, a quick Google search revealed similar answers; the AI just did it faster.  In the end, I still had to twist the title with my own mind to make it better.

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