Over the weekend we went live with our newest update of Matcher, our AI-powered feature that searches and analyzes deals, dealmakers and related data. using natural language descriptions of your work. The new Editor Matcher will help you find editors that “match” your submissions, just as Agent Matcher helps find agents that “match” your manuscript. Editor Matcher works the same way as Agent Matcher, producing a list of the most likely editors who have acquired similar projects and follows with a second list of possible matches to investigate. But with his update, we have significantly upgraded the matching itself — […]
AI
CCC Announces Collective Solution for Internal AI Licenses
Copyright Clearance Center has officially announced their first long-in-development licensing program for AI re-use rights. This first step lets participating publishers include these rights in CCC’s annual copyright licenses (ACL), their enterprise content licensing program that businesses subscribe to. The license allows for non-exclusive, annually renewable rights to use content within AI systems for internal use. CCC president and ceo Tracey Armstrong says in the release, “It is possible to be pro-AI and pro-copyright, and to couple AI with respect for creators. Responsible AI starts with licensing, and in developing this license, CCC enables users to efficiently gain access to […]
Former Scribd Co-Founder Launches AI Licensing Company for Books
Scribd co-founder and former ceo Trip Adler’s new start-up Created By Humans officially announced itself today, after the recent raising of a $5 million seed round led by David Sacks at Craft Ventures and Mike Maples, Jr. at Floodgate. (Other investors include Jason Calacanis at Launch Fund, Sam Lessin and Garry Tan at Slow Ventures, and author Walter Isaacson.) The intention is to create an AI rights licensing platform that “makes it simple for authors/publishers to license the AI Rights of their content to AI companies for use in training models and more” — even though the current status of […]
Wiley Sales Grow Due to AI Deal
Wiley announced fourth quarter and full year earnings for the period ended April 30, marking a turnaround for the company. For the fourth quarter, including held for sale or sold assets, sales were down 11 percent to $468 million and operating income fell 17 percent to $69 million. Excluding those assets at constant currency, adjusted sales were up 4 percent to $441 million and adjusted EBITDA gained 7 percent to $125 million. For the year, sales were down 7 percent to $1.873 billion with operating income down 6 percent to $52 million. Adjusted sales were $1.617 billion, down 1 percent, […]
AI Annals: PRH’s Book Boost
Bertelsmann commissioned a study from Enders Analysis and Arthur D. Little on various media industry uses of artificial intelligence so far. In publishing, the report touts Penguin Random House’s BookBoost, “a proprietary platform that leverages first-party data, automation, machine learning, and AI to fully automate the process for Facebook and Instagram advertising.” They note the tool “helps to create, execute, and test advertising campaigns at scale with a focus on driving incremental sales and marketing efficiencies. Results to date are very promising, with key metrics on par or above benchmarks with strong performance in driving ad clickers to retail.” The […]
Some Publishers Begin to Add AI Language to Contracts
As publishers continue to experiment with generative AI for in-house processes, three of the big five publishers—Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group, and Macmillan—have begun including language surrounding AI in their contracts. These three publishers have boilerplate language available stating that the publisher will not license or use an author’s work to train AI without the author’s express permission—a win for agents and the Authors Guild, which updated their model contract with an AI clause last year. In many cases, the new language is not standard to the publishers’ contracts, but will be added if an author or agent asks […]