Borghino also delivered a keynote at the forum entitled ‘AI-Powered Future: Technology reshaping the ecosystem of global publishing’, which was held during the Book Fair. His presentation entitled ‘The Storm We Call Progress’ praised the Chinese authorities’ recent clampdown on pirate sites (for example, 20 new Sci-hub sites) and encouraged ongoing cooperation with the International Publishers Coalition of China.
He championed the value and innovation that the publishing industry provides. He said, ‘there’s an old saying in computer science, “Garbage in: Garbage out”. We know the AI platforms are hungry for high-quality inputs … It is no wonder that that they used published books to train their tools … because they know that these books were written by outstanding authors, who were edited with care and dedication and passion by professional publishers. They openly recognize the value that we bring.’
Publishers have no aversion to AI technology — most publishers already use it for a range of purposes from proof-reading to marketing — but ‘All we ask for,’ Borghino continued, ‘is that the GenAI companies be transparent about their inputs, that they respect copyright, and that they secure licenses from rightsholders. In other words, we should be able to choose whether our works are used for training; we should be credited if that is the case; and we should be paid.’
On this last point, Borghino said it was a ‘sick joke’ that at the same time as the Tech Giants are investing astronomical amounts on AI (by their own estimates, upwards of $US400 billion in the coming year), ‘they still maintain that they cannot afford to pay rightsholders for the content they have scraped illegally from the Internet.’