Generative AI: European publishing bodies call for transparency

In a joint effort to safeguard democracy and protect the integrity of the book chain, leading literary and publishing organisations in Europe are urging the European Union to take immediate action to ensure the transparency of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI). The European Writers’ Council (EWC), the Federation of European Publishers (FEP), and the European and International Booksellers Federation (EIBF) have come together to address the urgent need for regulation in this burgeoning field.

Generative AI models have raised serious concerns regarding their development processes, which have often been conducted in an opaque and unlawful manner. These models, including well-known systems such as ChatGPT and Bard, have been found to illicitly utilise millions of copyright-protected books without the permission of authors or publishers. This practice not only undermines the rights of content creators but also poses a grave threat to democracy itself by enabling the widespread creation of deceptive, biased, and potentially harmful content.

Read: Authors’ pirated books used to train Generative AI

The issue at hand underscores the vital importance of transparency in the development of generative AI. With the forthcoming AI Act, the European Union has a unique opportunity to establish itself as a leader in protecting its citizens and democratic values.

The European Parliament has taken an initial step in the right direction by proposing transparency obligations for Foundation Models. These obligations require these AI systems to provide detailed summaries of the copyrighted works used for training and to operate in full respect of fundamental rights. However, it is now up to Member States and the Commission to build on this foundation and strengthen the proposal to put an end to the illicit sourcing and data-laundering practices employed by generative AI developers. Transparency regarding the inputs into AI systems is the cornerstone for ensuring the quality and legitimacy of their outputs.

Read: Amazon halts AI-generated books impersonating author Jane Friedman

“Meaningful transparency obligations allowing a rightsholder to assess whether their work was used are easy for the innovative AI operators to comply with,” states the European Writers’ Council. In addition, it said: “They are technologically simple to apply and rely on data that AI developers already collect and organise. And they are needed now, as damage is already done since existing generative text models used works since years without consent, credit or compensation to the authors and publishers.”

To further address the impact of AI on the literary sector and the imperative need for legislative action, the Federation of European Publishers (FEP) dedicated its Rendez-Vous event at the Frankfurt Book Fair on October 19th. The event provided insights into how authors, booksellers, and publishers can take steps to protect their works within the context of Text and Data Mining (TDM).

The call for transparency in generative AI is endorsed by the following organisations:

EIBF: The European and International Booksellers Federation (EIBF) represents booksellers of all types across Europe and on the global stage. It serves as the voice of booksellers and advocates for their interests, from traditional brick-and-mortar and independent bookshops to online sellers and retail chains.

EWC: The European Writers' Council (EWC) is the world's largest and only representation of writers in the book sector, encompassing all genres, from fiction and non-fiction to academic, children's books, and poetry. It consists of 49 national professional writers' and literary translators' associations and unions across 31 European countries, collectively representing 220,000 writers and contributors in 34 languages.

FEP: The Federation of European Publishers (FEP) is the umbrella association of book publishers in the European Union. It is the voice of the majority of publishers in Europe, representing 29 national associations of publishers across the EU, the European Economic Area, and other European countries. FEP advocates for the interests of publishers of books, learned journals, and educational materials.