Simon Sharwood, The Register ; Science fiction writers imagine a future in which AI doesn’t abuse copyright – or their generosity
"Which is why several authors and the Authors Guild have launched lawsuits against OpenAI. It's also why the US Copyright Office in August 2023 launched an inquiry into copyright and artificial intelligence and invited public comments.
The SFWA took advantage of that offer, as did many others: the consultation has generated over 10,000 comments.
The Association's most recent submission – lodged on December 7 and noticed by Torrentfreak – notes that it is in "the unique position of representing many authors who have fought to make their work available for free for human readers."
"Over the last twenty years, many science fiction and fantasy authors of short fiction have embraced the open internet, believing that it is good for society and for a flourishing culture that art be available to their fellow human beings regardless of ability to pay," the submission states. But there's a difference between making a work free and giving it away.
"Being freely available has never meant abandoning the moral and legal rights of the authors, nor the obligation to enter into legal contracts to compensate authors for their work and spell out how it may and may not be used," the submission argues.
"The current content-scraping regime preys on that good-faith sharing of art as a connection between human minds and the hard work of building a common culture," the submission adds."
