Post by Cory Doctorow
Last month, Penguin Random House, the largest publisher in the history of human civilization, started including a copyright notice in its books advising all comers that they would not permit AI training with the material between the covers:
pluralistic.net/2024/10/19/gander-sauce/#just-because-youre-on-their-side-it-doesnt-mean-theyre-on-your-side
At the time, people who don't like AI were very excited about this, even though it was - at the utmost - a purely theatrical gesture.
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After all, if AI training *isn't* fair use, then you don't need a notice to turn it into a copyright infringement. If AI training *is* fair use, it remains fair use even if you add some text to the copyright notice.
But far more important was the fact that the less that Penguin Random House pays its authors, the more it can pay its shareholders and executives.
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PRH didn't say it wouldn't *sell* the right to train a model to an AI company - they only said that an AI company that wanted to train a model on its books would have to pay PRH first. In other words, just because you're on their side, it doesn't follow that they're on your side.
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