Australian writers seek government help in legal battle with Meta

Meta says it doesn’t have to ask permission or pay writers for sampling their works to train AI. They disagree.

Fleur McDonald says she feels helpless and furious after finding her books leaked onto the web for free. Picture: Chelsea Templeton

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Australian writers want the Australian government to support a legal battle against Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta, which is accused of using Australian books to train AI without seeking permission or offering payment.

“It’s a David and Goliath battle,” said writer Fleur McDonald, who says all of her novels, including foreign language translations, have been stolen and leaked onto the web, where they can now be used to train AI. “But I’m up for the fight.”

Nicole Alexander, who has had all 12 of her novels downloaded onto pirate sites, says Meta is stealing from Australia’s literary canon if it takes pirated books to train AI.

“Surely this is worthy of a class action?” she said.

Meta admits that it has been trying to build an AI machine to compete with ChatGPT, and argues it is allowed to use books under “fair use” copyright provisions in the US and Australia.

The Atlantic magazine says Meta has been using books from the LibGen website, which is a pirate site, and it last week published a search tool, which enables writers around the world to see which of their books have been stolen and published onto LibGen.

Has your book been stolen? Search here.

More than 50,000 writers have since signed a petition designed to force Meta to pay them for using their work to train AI. In a statement, Meta said the “fair use of copyrighted material is vital” to the development of AI and it does not intend to pay authors for the works it has used.

By contrast, HarperCollins Australia, owned by News Corporation, publisher of The Australian, last year offered writers up to $4000 to use their books to train its AI machines.

The Australian Society of Authors praised HarperCollins for making “a step in the right direction”, adding: “Authors are being consulted, their explicit permission is required, and the publisher has set guardrails around the use of the material.”

HarperCollins Australia CEO Jim Demetriou said the company was also offering authors the right to opt out.

There appears to be no way for authors whose works have been taken by Meta to opt out.

LibGen AI

Popular writer and TV star Gina Chick, whose grandmother was celebrated Australian writer Charmian Clift, said she was disgusted.

“It makes me feel sick,” said Chick, of news that her grandmother’s books appear to have been pirated onto the web.

McDonald told The Australian that “furious does not begin to describe the rollercoaster of emotions”.

“Meta is a giant company who had the means to ask permission, and reimburse us for our work,” she said.

“If we do not stand up to these giant, soulless corporations, then we are the ones at fault.”

Naima Brown says Meta should pay writers if they use their books to train AI machines. Picture: Ingrid Pullen

Naima Brown, author of this year’s highly-anticipated Mother Tongue, said: “To see our art, our literary work, stolen to feed voracious, environmentally degrading AI machines is to be forced into participating in their world view, and their masterplan. We cannot seem to opt out, and my raw reaction is helpless fury.”

In a statement, Creative Australia – formerly the Australia Council – said its position “is that artists must be asked for their permission, be appropriately acknowledged, and be fairly remunerated for their work before their work can be used to train AI systems”.

Australian Society of Authors CEO Lucy Hayward said: “Government intervention is needed to safeguard creators’ rights. We are calling for legislation which will ensure AI developers are transparent, obtain consent for use of copyright material, and compensate creators fairly.”

Literary agent Curtis Brown said: “We believe that all creators should consent to, and be compensated for, any use of their work to train AI.”

Thousands of Australian authors have signed an open letter urging the Albanese government to act, and British authors including No.1 bestseller Richard Osman and crime sensation Val McDermid, are urging the UK government to hold Meta to account as well.

There is a general reluctance to quit Meta’s platforms, however.

Invisible Man author Holden Sheppard says writers need Meta, owner of Facebook and Instagram, to reach readers through social media

Holden Sheppard, author of Invisible Boys, an award-winning book recently adapted for Stan, said authors were in a bind because “we want to rage-quit them (Facebook and Instagram) but … frankly we need to be able to reach an audience to have a career! Hence calling for government regulation to hold companies to account, rather than leaving.”

Meta last month took legal action against one of its former employees, Sarah Wynn-Williams, whose book, Careless People, offers a withering assessment of the company’s culture.

Meta tried but failed to stop the book from being distributed in the US.