Our first story of the week was about AI and a very global market, and in a way the two stories today are in a similar vein—but from a different angle.
ALLi News Editor Dan Holloway
French Publishers Raise Alarm over AI and Secondhand Sales
The first demonstrates the concern of the literary world about AI. A further Frankfurt follow-up, Publishing Perspectives has an interesting account of concerns raised by publishers in France. I reported recently on the rising worries among those based in the European Union that the EU’s AI Act has not so far delivered on what it promised when it comes to protecting creators.
This is very much in the same vein. French publishers are currently suing Meta over copyright infringement. They are also very worried about the level of AI-generated content flooding the book market.
It was interesting to read in the same piece concerns aired over the strength of the secondhand sales market. It’s something we tend not to hear too much about in English-speaking markets, and it has always surprised me somewhat that many of the loudest opponents of piracy on economic grounds have what one might call an affectionate nostalgia for the secondhand market and Little Free Library movement—neither of which sends money back to creators.
Australia Rejects Text Data Mining Exception
The second story represents a step in the ongoing battle between creatives and technology. Thank you to one of our ALLi members for tipping me off to a story from Australia about a successful outcome to a campaign led by authors there. The Australian government has ruled out a “text data mining exception” in the nation’s copyright law.
The phrase “text data mining exception” sounds like prime jargonese but will be familiar to many readers of this column from the consultation and resulting legislation in the UK. Essentially, such an exception means that the strict provisions of copyright law can be suspended to help tech firms access and use the large datasets they need to develop generative AI platforms.
The refusal of the Australian government to instigate such an exception has, unsurprisingly, met with appreciation from the literary community. The Australian Society of Authors welcomed the decision as a major victory for creators and copyright advocates.
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