A group of well-known authors—including Lauren Groff, Lev Grossman, R.F. Kuang, Dennis Lehane, and Geoffrey Maguire—has spoken out in an open letter urging publishers to tighten their grip on AI use. They’re asking for measures like using only human narrators for audiobooks and pointing out that current practices effectively see AI companies profiteering from work that wasn’t fully compensated.
The letter makes it clear: instead of receiving a fair slice of the earnings their creativity brings, writers are watching someone else benefit from technology built on their unpaid labour. The authors also call for publishers to commit to not releasing machine-generated books and to ensure that human staff aren’t reduced to mere overseers of AI systems. Interest in their message skyrocketed, with 1,100 new signatures added in just 24 hours. At the same time, authors are taking legal action against tech firms accused of using their books to train AI models, even as recent court rulings pose challenges to these lawsuits.
