Draft2Digital Won't Allow AI Licensing Rights (For Now)

[Kasumi_Lee]

About a month ago, I and all other self-published authors with books on Draft2Digital received a survey asking how we would feel about licensing our stories to be used to train generative AI programs. Less than an hour ago, we received an email with Draft2Digital's decision. Here's the money quote (bold in the original):

Until we see significant reforms, especially around greater contractual protections and transparency governing use, intellectual property, and rights restrictions, Draft2Digital will not offer AI rights licensing opportunities.

The full statement from D2D explaining their decision and reasoning can be read here, but suffice it to say that this is good news for indie authors. From what I recall of the survey, the scenarios revolved around what purposes we would be comfortable allowing our stories to be used to train generative AI for as well as how much compensation we would expect in return for granting such licensing rights.

One of the hypothetical examples involved an automotive company wanting to use novels to train a proprietary AI for use in its internal business operations. Why a car manufacturer would want to use fictional stories to train an AI for internal corporate purposes is anyone's guess, but imagine the results of an AI being trained on smut. Another hypothetical company involved a similar-sized company wanting to train an AI to generate custom novels online, an obvious threat to the incomes of indie authors.

As you can see, the key difference is whether the AI is being trained to produce rival products, and how much authors should be compensated, or indeed whether any price is worth allowing one's works to be licensed for such purposes at all. For now, there is too little legislation, regulation, and legal precedent for retailers like D2D in good conscience to allow AI developers to license indie works for training AI, but this certainly won't be the last we hear of this issue.

 

[M_K_Babalon]

The less people helping that shit the better. I'm sitting in Rally's drive thru right now, and dealing with an ai taking my order pisses me off.

 

[StillStunned]

Why a car manufacturer would want to use fictional stories to train an AI for internal corporate purposes is anyone's guess, but imagine the results of an AI being trained on smut.

"Seventy miles to your destination. In one mile, take the exit. Drive into that exit, harder, harder! Now continue straight ahead. You can go faster. Faster! Ride me, you bastard, make me your bitch!"

 

[Erozetta]

"Seventy miles to your destination. In one mile, take the exit. Drive into that exit, harder, harder! Now continue straight ahead. You can go faster. Faster! Ride me, you bastard, make me your bitch!"

The Uber driver shifts uncomfortably as his beautiful and scantily dressed passenger smiles.

"Damn. I've never felt more connected to a car before," she says as she fans at the flush on her cheeks.

He half-chuckles then clears his throat. "You should hear it when I have to get gas."

"I bet you're the type to fill 'er up real good. Slow pumps with a little top off at the end, eh?"

(I apologize. I should've been asleep three hours ago.)

 

[MillieDynamite]

My publisher has pulled his and our accounts off of D2D for a myriad of reasons, none of which have to do with AI rights. But everything to do with nitpicking requests for more and more information about him and the other pen names he managed for Mary, some other writers, and myself. He did take the survey, and while they have stated they aren't licensing any AI, he feels they might (for a price) permit the software to scrap stories for style and pacing. The software will inevitably scrap through the work out there. That's what it is designed to do. But why not simply state AI isn't allowed, or you must say you use it if you do? At any rate, 12% of my future income from the stories I write under this pen name is gone until (and if) we publish at B&N, iTunes, and others direct.

But I still have Amazon and Bookapy, where most of the sales come from.

 

[StillStunned]

The Uber driver shifts uncomfortably as his beautiful and scantily dressed passenger smiles.

"Damn. I've never felt more connected to a car before," she says as she fans at the flush on her cheeks.

He half-chuckles then clears his throat. "You should hear it when I have to get gas."

"I bet you're the type to fill 'er up real good. Slow pumps with a little top off at the end, eh?"

(I apologize. I should've been asleep three hours ago.)

"Approaching destination. Nearly there, nearly there, near-ly-there... YES!"

 

[Kasumi_Lee]

while they have stated they aren't licensing any AI, he feels they might (for a price) permit the software to scrape stories for style and pacing.

That makes no sense. The whole point of AI licensing is authors granting permission for their works to be used by AI developers to train AI. "Scraping" stories for any kind of content, including style and pacing, would be a violation if done without a license from those stories' authors.

 

[MillieDynamite]

It's learning somewhere from stories. I haven't heard of any writer permitting the developers to use their stories. Quite the opposite, many have initiated lawsuits, yet it's improving, or so I'm told. It can't be improved without learning from existing works.

 

[SimonDoom]

"Seventy miles to your destination. In one mile, take the exit. Drive into that exit, harder, harder! Now continue straight ahead. You can go faster. Faster! Ride me, you bastard, make me your bitch!"

This is what's offered on the "Indoor Sport" package.