Black Inc. AI licensing - what authors need to know - Australian ...
The ASA has heard from concerned writers who have been asked by their publisher, Black Inc, to opt in to a sublicence arrangement that would allow Black Inc. to license their work for generative AI training. As reported today in The Guardian, the writers have been asked to sign this broad grant of rights within a number of days, with a 50/50 split of net receipts offered as compensation. The ASA shares authors’ profound concerns about this deal and believes it is vital that authors seek advice before signing any AI licensing agreements, especially if they do not understand or are unsure of the implications.
The Importance of Author Rights
We support publishers exploring appropriate licensing, but they must bring their authors along with them and treat authors’ work and intellectual property with the respect it deserves. While we welcome the fact that Black Inc’s offer is an opt-in arrangement and authors’ permission is explicitly required, Black Inc has not provided enough information for authors to evaluate the reasonableness of the deal and the remuneration on offer, nor the time to review the offer and seek legal advice. Asking for blanket permission for all future licensing – particularly with only days to sign – is unnecessary and unfair. Authors ought to be entitled to evaluate the pros and cons of each sublicence on its merits. The ASA has long recommended that sublicences are subject to author approval on a case-by-case basis and this is no different.
Ensuring Fair Compensation
In our view, there should be reasonable limitations set upon the licence including a veto right, consultation right, or at the very least a notification right for authors in respect of any licensing deals their publisher plans to enter into with AI companies. Publishers should provide transparent information about any limitations on the use of the licensed work, as well as assurances about how an authors’ moral rights are going to be respected. The compensation terms must also be reasonable. In our view, a 50/50 split does not represent fair compensation. The ASA supports the US Authors Guild’s guidance on a fair split for AI licensing deals – 75% to the author and 25% to the publisher on the basis that it is the authors’ expression and ideas – the text – that are of most value in AI training, and it is authors’ and illustrators’ work that is likely to be displaced or supplanted by this technology.
Considering Direct Licensing Opportunities
What’s more, increasingly authors have access to direct licensing opportunities, such as that offered by Created By Humans. Why sign away 50% of the future potential earnings to their publisher if authors can licence their work directly? We know that many of our members may feel ambivalent about entering into these arrangements because, on one hand, they are being asked to put their work into the hands of billion dollar tech companies like Google and Open AI who have already taken and used their books for AI training, without permission or payment.
Seeking Advice and Making Informed Decisions
The lack of transparency from these companies in respect of AI training also makes these deals incredibly difficult to evaluate – what incentive does an AI company have to renew a licence if the works have already been used to train their model? On the other hand, licensing could represent a welcome new income stream for Australian authors, who earn on average just $18,200 per annum from their creative practice. We know that authors are not making this decision in a vacuum. Given the context of unreasonable time pressure, the power imbalance between publisher and author, and an emerging crisis in independent publishing, we understand some authors may feel as if saying no to such arrangements risks their relationship with their publisher.
To that we would say, authors are the backbone of the publishing industry; it is on their intellectual property that publishers’ businesses are built. It is essential that authors seek advice before signing if they have any questions about these arrangements, whether the offer comes from Black Inc, HarperCollins, or any other publisher entering into AI licensing deals. Access the ASA’s free Member Advice Service, seek legal advice through Authors Legal, or review our guidelines for authors on AI.
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