MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
Walter Isaacson, Viet Thanh Nguyen and Susan Orlean are among the bestselling authors supporting a new service - a service that aims to give writers more control over how their books are used by artificial intelligence companies. NPR's Chloe Veltman reports that AI rights licensing space is opening up, even as some authors sue developers for allegedly training their AI programs on pirated literary works.
CHLOE VELTMAN, BYLINE: Susan Orlean says she wasn't surprised when she found out last year that several of her bestselling books had been used to train AI models.
SUSAN ORLEAN: I found out someone had Xeroxed copies of my book and had sold them at great profit.
VELTMAN: Orlean is currently a named plaintiff in a class-action copyright infringement lawsuit against the AI developers who allegedly stole her work. Other authors, including George R. R. Martin, Sarah Silverman and Jodi Picoult have launched similar actions. Orlean says it's not that she's opposed to the technology.
ORLEAN: I suspect that AI will have great value in many ways.
VELTMAN: She simply wants more control over how it's used in relation to her work.
ORLEAN: First of all, you give permission. Secondly, you are compensated. Thirdly, you are aware of how and where the work is being used.
VELTMAN: For these reasons, the author has signed up for Created by Humans.
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UNIDENTIFIED NARRATOR: Created by Humans is a platform where you can protect your work, license it to AI companies for a wide variety of uses and earn new revenue.
VELTMAN: This introductory video for the new AI rights licensing platform explains how writers can add their books to an online marketplace. Writers can opt in or out of the various types of AI rights. They would then get paid when AI companies use their content. Authors Guild CEO Mary Rasenberger says the writers advocacy nonprofit decided to partner with Created by Humans because of the control it could give writers.
MARY RASENBERGER: You have a chance to review the actual terms of any potential deal.
VELTMAN: And the startup's contract is nonexclusive, so writers can sell AI licensing rights through other channels, too. Trip Adler is Created by Humans co-founder and CEO.
TRIP ADLER: Right now there's this enormous gap between the world of AI and the world of creators, and a lot of books have been trained on by AI companies without the permission of authors. We're positioning ourselves as the company that's going to solve this problem.
VELTMAN: So far, the solution has mostly revolved around individual agreements between big publishers and AI developers. For example, Microsoft has a deal to use nonfiction works published by HarperCollins for AI model training. Created by Humans is currently in talks with AI companies. No deals have been made as yet. Adler says his platform will help them navigate the complex licensing landscape.
ADLER: So AI companies can just get the content they need and just focus on innovation.
VELTMAN: AI companies did not immediately respond to NPR's requests for comment. Rebecca Finlay is the CEO of Partnership on AI. The nonprofit's founders include Amazon, Google and Microsoft. She says the courts will eventually decide how literary works are protected and used. In the meantime, the AI rights licensing model is useful to the industry.
REBECCA FINLAY: It offers a clear set of terms and principles on which to use these works.
VELTMAN: A third of authors recently surveyed by the Authors Guild expressed willingness to license their works, but the remainder were not willing or were unsure. Bestselling author Bruce Barcott is on a mission to get more buy-in from the literary community.
BRUCE BARCOTT: AI is not going away. Let's make it equitable for everybody.
VELTMAN: This week, Barcott hosted a discussion for writers in Seattle about AI licensing rights.
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BARCOTT: It's more like a movie option that you can then sell again and again.
VELTMAN: Barcott says he's adding his books to Created by Humans. It remains to be seen how much money authors will actually make on the platform and how well their work will be protected. Chloe Veltman, NPR News.
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