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https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/96533-agents-authors-question-harpercollins-ai-deal.html>
"In a significant move, HarperCollins has become the first Big Five publisher
to strike a licensing deal to provide access to select nonfiction books for AI
training purposes. And so far, authors and agents appear to be approaching the
deal with caution and skepticism—if also with a measure of hope.
Multiple sources have now confirmed to PW the broad strokes of the deal, which
has been widely reported, including at
Bloomberg, which asserts that the deal
is with Microsoft, per an anonymous source. In a statement, Harper
representatives confirmed only that the agreement with an undisclosed company
will “allow limited use of select nonfiction backlist titles” for use in
training AI models “to improve model quality and performance.”
The deal is for a three-year period, and authors must opt in, per
PW’s
source. For those authors who do opt in, the deal provides for a $5,000 fee per
book, split evenly between the author and the publisher at $2,500 each;
payments will be not counted against author royalties. Crucially, agents
confirmed that the deal is effectively a one-off, implemented via contract
addenda, and does not seek to establish a new AI licensing right. Sources also
confirmed that the unnamed AI company has agreed to several protective terms,
including a commitment to limit verbatim reproduction and an agreement not to
train on pirated content.
News of the deal comes as HarperCollins parent company News Corp has been
aggressively pursuing AI deals, with the company reaching a reported $250
million agreement for AI training on
Wall Street Journal content earlier this
year. In the book world, academic and professional publishers including Taylor
& Francis and Wiley have also announced AI licensing deals this year. But in
terms of trade books, HarperCollins appears to be the first and only Big Five
publisher to offer an AI licensing deal."
Via Esther Schindler.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
