Name: PODCAST DROP: Latest Self-Publishing News with Dan Holloway
Start: 2025-11-28T13:00:00+00:00
End: 2025-11-28T14:00:00+00:00
Location: ALLi Podcast

Alliance Of Independent Authors | Self-Publishing News July 31, 2025 | With Dan Holloway

News Summary: U.S. Senate Hearing Tackles AI’s Use of Copyrighted Works

I have reported on what seems like a weekly basis on legal cases around AI and copyright, but this week I want to report on a hearing held in the legislative branch of the U.S. government. Before doing so, being an ignorant Brit, I undertook some brief research on what exactly the status of Senate hearings is—so if nothing else, this has increased my knowledge of how government works across the world (note for U.K. readers: I think it’s a bit like a Select Committee).

Authors Discover Their Books on LibGen, Raise Alarm Over AI Training: Self-Publishing News with Dan Holloway

You’ve probably seen it all over your social media feed this week: light blue rectangular backgrounds with lists of books. Most of these posts feature the writers’ own titles, accompanied by commentary that often hits harder than anything in the books themselves. These are lists of books on LibGen, a piracy-linked site that’s back in the spotlight after a recent article provided a searchable database—allowing authors to see exactly which of their works are available there.

Meta Considered Using Pirated Books for AI Training, Kindle Policy Change Sparks Debate: Self-Publishing with ALLi Featuring Dan Holloway

On this episode of the Self-Publishing with ALLi podcast, Dan Holloway reports on Meta’s internal discussions about AI training, revealing that the company considered using pirated books to train its language models. Court documents show Meta abandoned licensing talks with publishers after realizing they didn’t have the rights to AI training data. Meanwhile, Kindle’s recent policy change regarding USB book transfers continues to stir debate, and World of Books expands into the US resale market.