Penguin Random House Books Decline Use in AI Training

Penguin Random House has formalized its position regarding AI training within its publications. According to a report from The Bookseller, cited by Gizmodo, both newly published and reprinted books by the company will now include a statement on the copyright page prohibiting their use or reproduction for training artificial intelligence technologies or systems. This move marks Penguin Random House as potentially the first major publisher to address AI considerations on its copyright page, reserving its works from the text and data mining exception under European Union law.

The inclusion of such a clause acts as a precaution but does not directly impact copyright law. The revised page resembles the function of a robots.txt file commonly used on websites to request AI companies and others not to scrape content. However, this is a voluntary standard on the internet rather than a legal instrument. Copyright protections exist independently of whether such a page is included in a book, and defenses like fair use remain applicable irrespective of any claims by the rights holder.

The Verge reached out to Penguin Random House for further comments but did not receive an immediate response.

In August, the publisher issued a statement asserting its commitment to "vigorously defend the intellectual property that belongs to our authors and artists." However, attitudes towards AI vary among publishers; for instance, academic publishers such as Wiley, Oxford University Press, and Taylor & Francis have already established partnerships for AI training.

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