Amazon has launched a Kindle “Recaps” feature for English-language book series in the US, which gives summaries to catch up readers on plot points and characters before they read a later book in the series. An Amazon spokesperson told TechCrunch that the summaries are built with AI. “We use technology, including GenAI and Amazon moderators, to create short recaps of books that accurately reflect book content,” they said. Amazon has not yet responded to PL’s inquiry about how they approached acquiring rights to copy and ingest full books in order to create AI-generated summaries. New Kindle software will include the […]
AI
Harper’s Murray Discusses AI and More On Podcast
The latest Open Road podcast features an interview with HarperCollins ceo Brian Murray. The conversation includes ample discussion of the intersection of AI and book publishing. On the AI licensing deal for backlist nonfiction books that Harper offered to authors and agents starting last November, Murray reports that, “So far, the vast majority of authors that we have spoken with have opted into it, but it’s their choice. At HarperCollins, we ourselves see ourselves as trying to find a way forward. It’s a little bit like threading a needle — where you want to protect copyright, protect IP, you want […]
NYT’s Copyright Infringement Claims Against OpenAI Will Go To Trial
The NYT’s well-drafted copyright infringement lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft has survived the defendants’ motions to dismiss and the primary claims will go to trial. Filed in the New York’s Southern District, the order was granted by Judge Sidney Stein, who did grant with prejudice a motion to dismiss unfair competition by misappropriation claims, while also striking other modest claims from various related lawsuits. Judge Stein’s brief order indicated he “will issue an Opinion setting forth the reasons for this ruling expeditiously,” with a schedule for proceedings to come thereafter.
Atlantic Allows You to Search Pirated Books on LibGen
The Atlantic has released a tool that allows people to search what books are included in the massive LibGen pirate database, based on metadata. According to court documents in the Kadrey v. Meta copyright infringement case, Meta used LibGen to train their GenAI tool Llama. LibGen includes approximately 7.5 million books and 81 million research papers. You will see a lot of enraged social media posts from authors, as the tool helps personalize the comprehensive scale of the theft. As previously reported, Meta engaged briefly in conversations with publishers about licensing books, but decided not to because it was too […]
AAP Submits AI Recommendations to White House
The Association of American Publishers submitted recommendations regarding AI to the Trump administration, in response to a request for information while the White House develops an Artificial Intelligence Action Plan. The AAP’s letter states that the action plan should protect copyright and intellectual property, “embrace and encourage” licensing and partnership between companies, and reject tech companies’ call for “a bloated fair use defense and an unworkable ‘opt-out’ regime.” It also calls on the White House to use law enforcement to combat pirate sites and direct the DOJ and FTC to “use their unfair competition authority against companies that use and […]
AI At London Book Fair
Industry panels discussing AI are a staple of book fair programming these days, and the London Book Fair has followed suit. One session reviewed policy developments in the US and UK and there have been multiple discussions of the ethics of AI in audiobooks. On Tuesday, Porter Anderson with Publishing Perspectives spoke with Maria Pallante, president and ceo of the Association of American Publishers, and Dan Conway, ceo of the Publishers Association, about the state of AI policy-making. The takeaway was that both the US and the UK are in holding patterns as they wait for court decisions and legislation. […]