Statement from Fremantle Press about the use of pirated books to train Meta AI
Fremantle Press stands with its creators in denouncing Meta’s use of stolen books to train its AI, as reported in The Atlantic.
The theft and exploitation of copyright works in this way adversely affects publishers and creators across all genres, undermining the value of original work and preventing rights in these works to be licensed for the benefit of creators.
Further, Australia has endorsed the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which outlines the right of First Nations people to maintain, control and protect knowledge and cultural expression, so Meta’s actions further undermine the rights of First Nations authors.
Fremantle Press asks that the intellectual property rights of all authors be upheld and that the unauthorised and unpaid use of original works to train generative AI be challenged.
Fremantle Press is a member of the Australian Publishers Association, which is currently advocating on this issue, lobbying our Federal Government and liaising with international publishing colleagues to coordinate efforts in response to the threat this poses.
What creators can do
- Read the Australian Society of Authors overview for creators, which you can access here: https://www.asauthors.org.au/news/australian-authors-books-included-in-ai-training-dataset/.
- Use The Atlantic’s tool to check if your book has been stolen.
- If so, register that inclusion with the ASA via this form.
- Share your concerns on the social media platforms you feel safe to utilise right now, write to your local member for parliament and sign the global statement on AI training.
Please stay connected and reach out to one another and to us. We will share more information when we have it.
Now is the time for creators, politicians, journalists and industry members to do what we do best: use our voices, and our power as expert storytellers, to help people understand why this news is so devastating and what it is costing us all.