European Writers Council Demands Legal Safeguards as AI Systems Train on Millions of Books Without Permission
The European Writers Council has called on EU policymakers to establish mandatory licensing requirements and legal liability for AI companies that use authors' work without consent. The council, representing 52 writers' organisations and 250,000 authors across 34 countries, made the demands at a stakeholder roundtable on April 22.
Over 1,000 text-generating AI applications worldwide have been built from millions of books without author permission, the council said. More than half of surveyed writers do not want their work used to train AI systems at all.
Three Core Demands
Licensing must remain voluntary and individual. The council rejected proposals to expand existing copyright exemptions to cover generative AI, or to create new AI-specific exemptions. Writers who do consent to licensing-roughly 15 percent in council surveys-demand control, transparency, time limits, and substantial payment.
Labeling requirements need teeth. The council called on the EU Commission to establish mandatory, multi-layered labeling standards for AI-generated content. These rules should go beyond the current Code of Practice under the AI Act to prevent consumer deception and ensure creators receive proper payment.
AI companies must face financial consequences. The council asked policymakers whether they will support authors in obtaining legal and financial remedies, and whether they will hold AI companies liable for copyright infringement and future unauthorized use.
What Writers Want
The council welcomed the European Parliament's resolution on generative AI and copyright, which recognizes its ART principle: Authorisation, Remuneration, and Transparency. The resolution acknowledges that authors should control whether their work is used, receive payment when it is, and know how their writing is being deployed.
Writers who opt into licensing agreements want guarantees that AI companies cannot extend use beyond agreed timeframes or purposes. Payment must reflect actual value extracted from their work, not nominal fees.
The council emphasized that the harm from unauthorized AI training on copyrighted books "is already beyond any imagination." Clarification of text-and-data-mining exemptions under existing EU copyright law is urgent.
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