Scott Thurow and the other authors who oppose training AI on their writings are absolutely and utterly in the wrong, as evidenced by their reliance upon “copyright” to make their case against it.
The tech companies are doing it because they want to, and because they can. It’s the most flagrant copyright breach in history, being perpetrated by the richest companies in the world. It’s their typical modus operandi – steal first, and request permission when challenged.
And instead of trying to prevent this, the British government wants to give them a free pass. That will be catastrophic, not just for writers in the UK, but all over the world. American authors, for example, who demand compensation from the tech giants will be told, ‘Tough – our scraping operation conforms to UK law.’
Copyright, the most crucial protection for any writer, will effectively cease to exist.
It is copyright that is the abuse, not the reading and analysis of books that have been duly purchased and utilized as the reader sees fit. Copyright neither protects the author nor is necessary in order to inspire creative people to create works of art. It’s not at all a surprise that it’s bestselling corporate hacks like Thurow who are most upset by the possibility that AI can churn out books as unoriginal and poorly-written as their own.
As far as the possibility that people will be able to request a “Scott Thurow” novel that will serve as a convincing substitute for the real thing, that is a clear and obvious matter of trademark, and I have no doubt that the AI services will be paying authors and other IP owners for the rights to utilize their trademark in this way; Grimes is already offering a service to record songs that feature an AI facsimile of her voice to sing the vocals.
If this does spell the end of copyright, that is a good thing. The fact that copyright now extends 70 years or more beyond the life of the author, and that it does so as a result of the Devil Mouse putting pressure on the US Congress, is sufficient proof that it has nothing to do with protecting or even benefiting the creators.