Note that it's Franzen, George RR Martin, and <authors> taking legal action against LLMs training on their work. It's not publishers. Publishers are staying silent and biding their time. Authors and publishers' interests are NOT aligned on generative AI, just as actors and studios aren't.
Note that it’s truly the most annoying authors who are coming out against LLMs because authors who have literally anything better to do are just continuing to write books because they know that LLMs cannot replace what they do.
Mine will be the 123rd comment pointing out how George is responsible for not having source material for season 8 but for this he's the first row.
Why would you need a publisher for an AI work? Just put it on Amazon
Color me shocked that they came down on archive.org like a ton of bricks and are taking a wait-and-see attitude on this.
I'd be worried if I worked in publishing; in a lot of 'soft skill' professions, really. Senior staff remain irreplaceable cos developed intuition & relationships. But lots of 'starter jobs' can be replaced by AI. If there's no way for replacement staff to gain experience/learn, the sector withers!
I'd disagree that interests are not aligned! – Publishers may not act fast, because they are trying to find a scalable, sustainable, standardised solution (and legal action will get authors nowhere). There's a lot of activity and different approaches, implemented rn: C2PA, TDMrep (W3C), ISCC (ISO).
I will say that my publisher, which is a small press, admittedly, has taken a hard stance of not accepting any generative AI books… ❤️