Recently, a group of prominent authors, including Richard Osman, Kazuo Ishiguro, Kate Mosse, and Val McDermid, signed an open letter urging the UK government to hold Meta accountable for using copyrighted books in its AI training. The letter requests that Lisa Nandy, the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, summon Meta executives to testify before Parliament.
In an interview, McDermid stated, "As a crime writer, I understand theft." She believes that any third-party use of an author's work should be compensated, including adaptations, translations, and photocopying. "Meta's use of pirated material is a double theft, and we're furious about it."
Earlier this year, court documents revealed that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg approved the company's use of a "shadow library" called LibGen, containing over 7.5 million books. On March 20th, The Atlantic republished a searchable database of LibGen's books, leading many authors to discover their works were used without permission to train Meta's AI models.
The letter claims this action is a clear violation of copyright law. "There's no question that scraping authors' works to train generative AI is illegal in the UK, yet tech giants like Meta operate in the UK with insufficient scrutiny of their actions." The letter points out that authors are virtually powerless against corporations like Meta, with the cost and complexity of litigation making it difficult to protect their rights.
Mosse stated, "For writers and everyone who makes their living through hard work, originality and imagination, this is another David and Goliath moment. Copyright exists, the law is clear, this is large-scale theft and it must stop. Justice must be served."
The letter, drafted by the Society of Authors (SoA) and published as a petition on Change.org, has garnered nearly 5,000 signatures. It calls on the government to take all possible measures to ensure authors' rights, interests, and livelihoods are fully protected, warning that "inaction" would have a catastrophic and irreversible impact on all UK authors.
The letter also demands that Meta executives provide a detailed response to the allegations of large-scale copyright infringement, ensure respect for authors' copyrights, cease illegal activities, and compensate for all past infringements. A lawsuit filed by multiple authors in the US against Meta alleges that company executives were aware LibGen contained pirated material when they authorized its use.
A Meta spokesperson said the company has developed transformative generative AI (GenAI) open-source large language models (LLMs) that deliver significant innovation and productivity for individuals and businesses. "The fair use of copyrighted material is critical, and we disagree with the plaintiffs' claims; the full record tells a different story. We will continue to vigorously defend ourselves and protect the development of generative AI for the benefit of all."
Key Points:
📚 Prominent authors are calling on the government to hold Meta accountable for copyright infringement and demand that its executives testify before Parliament.
⚖️ The letter highlights Meta's use of pirated material to train its AI, constituting a clear copyright violation.
✍️ Authors state that they are virtually powerless against large corporations, and the law should protect their rights and livelihoods.
