The Book-Piracy Problem
A conversation with Damon Beres and Gal Beckerman about the ethics of using books to train AI, and whether bots can create real literature
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Last week, The Atlantic published an revealing that tens of thousands of pirated books are being used to train major generative-AI programs. The list of authors whose work has been scraped includes Zadie Smith, bell hooks, Michael Pollan, and Stephen King; King in today about his reaction to having his work used in this way. I spoke with Damon Beres, ’s Technology editor, and Gal Beckerman, our Books editor, about the ethics of using books to train AI, broader questions around piracy, and whether bots can create work with literary value.
