When the justice system turns its back on authors, excusing the misuse of their books, it’s a blow to the entire creative community.
How can any of us feel certain that the work of our imaginations will be respected? What good is a copyright when the justice system can override it with the excuse of “fair use?”
Several months ago, four of my books were uploaded onto an illegal download website. The site has been repeatedly shutdown, but it always pops back up. Those four books, along with thousands of books by other authors, were then illegally downloaded by a massive company and fed into their AI machine.
The plan was to train the AI software to write in a manner that professional writers do. When confronted about the copyright violations, the company in question stated that it would’ve been too costly to acquire the books legally, and doing so would’ve taken more time, which would’ve been a disservice to society.
“Doing it the right way is too time consuming and too expensive” is literally a justification only the rich can get away with.
And they have.
This past week, a judge ruled in favor of this giant company, stating that their use of copyrighted books was not illegal. “Fair use,” they call it. Fair use…to take an author’s copyrighted work, feed it into a machine, that will then spew out results that can affect their source of income. AI written/assisted books have already flooded the market, and people have bought them…over books written by actual human beings.
Amazon has been working hard to remove/label these “works.”
As an author, the injustice of the situation is frustrating.
I’m less worried about the AI software mimicking my work than I am about the justifications people will use to take advantage of other human beings who are trying to make a living.
AI software will never be able to mimic my writing style. I write intuitively, in the moment, without a formula. Software has no intuition, and writing a cohesive story with authentic characters is so much more than data points.
The truly concerning part is the lack of respect for Creatives. What we build and shape into something beautiful for people to enjoy should be respected. Not taken advantage of. Not stolen without consequence. Not manipulated without permission.
If we’re not careful as a society, we will cast aside creativity for the convenience of AI, and in the distant future, all we’ll be left with are hollow, artificial imitations.
It’s just so horrible!! I can’t believe they ruled in favor of the company. But God will ultimately make sure you get justice, one way or another. I started listening to an audiobook yesterday while driving, and after about two chapters, I checked to see who was narrating it because “she” was so bad. Turns out it was AI, and as soon as I saw that, I felt stupid not realizing it sooner. That author stated it was the only way she could afford to get her books on audio. If this was my first time reading/listening to her books, I would’ve thought she was a mediocre author at best. I happen to know she’s a decent writer though, and I feel she’s going to lose sales. It’s a crazy world we’re living in.
It really is. I was going to listen to some books by a popular Christian author recently, only to discover AI narration 😔 No, thank you. I understand how expensive it is as an indie author, but AI isn’t the answer. Visually impaired readers already have that option on their devices, so there’s nothing wrong with waiting and saving money to afford an actual narrator.
This situation is one of those where I just want to throw my arms up in the air and scream “WHY”? I don’t understand the judgment! Why do we bother to have copyrights if some judicial person is going to come in and say, “no worries, we really think this is ok”. I wonder….is this a real judicial person or just an AI look-a-like? I’m so sorry to all of the folks out there who work so hard on their heartfelt creations, just to be treated so unkindly by the folks that are supposed to protect their rights. You all did what you were supposed to do, so why, why, why…? You are correct, no one can write the way you and many other authors of books, songs, poems etc… do! I hope people are soon educated about what AI is all about before AI is all we have!
Hang in there, I’m looking forward to your next Holly novel.
God Bless and hugs to you both and treats to Cinder and Marshmallow