I am with the authors more like 80% here.

Authors read each others works and are influenced by them and we don’t expect them to go back and buy special licenses for each work that might have influenced their current novels. Art as much as any field stands on the shoulders of mice and giants alike. Pretending that AI language models shouldn’t “read” as many novels as possible to assist their own growth is a preposterous idea.

Should they have to buy a copy of the book like everyone else? Sure. Should they get bent over without lube by publishing companies? Well that is a bit more complex.

In my opinion there is no “right” answer right now. We as a society need to decide what we are okay with.

Furthermore, there are a lot of really good books out there that would be truly great “except”. Except what? That depends. Maybe it has annoying side characters, or maybe it is littered with plot holes, maybe there are outdated social norms that distract from the real point of the book, or maybe the fact that not one character in the book looks or talks like you and your friends.

It would be wonderful if we could use AI to adjust or even personalize those books.

Can you imagine a Harry Potter that isn’t just translated into other languages, but has each of the characters localized as well. Neither Harry Potter being British nor being male is fundamental to the story. There is no reason the French, Aria Potter couldn’t save the world through the power of her mother’s love, and with the help of her friends. Well except the fact that it would likely make JKR lose her mind, since she doesn’t even tolerate fan fiction.

Is it possible to make these changes now, sure? It just isn’t really practical for even really big name authors, much someone who only sells a few thousand copies of each book.

I understand that authors and artists in a more general sense are very, very concerned. The problem is that this has nothing to do with AI. If I were to generate a story based on their work, I simply cannot distribute it without legal repurcusions. Doesn’t matter if I used AI or not. The problem lies, once again, at the publishers. They can churn out copy after copy using AI and abuse the artist in that regard. Something similar is happening with DC Fables and it’s creator(who in a gigachad move just threw the entire IP into the public domain).So what we need is copyright reform. Artists deserve to be paid adequately for their work and should be protected from being ‘impersonated’ by publishers using whatever means, not strictly AI. All these ban AI discussions miss the underlying point completely, being copyright reform. AI just sped up the proces 100 times.