Fife Crime Author Marion Todd Warns AI Could End Her Career
Marion Todd, a best-selling crime writer from Fife, fears her career may vanish overnight after a global tech company used her work without permission to train an AI model. All nine of her novels, featuring detective Clare Mackay from St Andrews police station, were included in a large dataset used by Meta for its Llama 3 AI.
Her books are among over seven million copyrighted works downloaded without consent. Alongside around 150 other authors, she is demanding their removal from AI training datasets. The concern is that AI could soon replicate their unique writing styles, threatening their livelihood.
AI Could Produce Marion Todd’s Books “At the Touch of a Button”
Marion, originally from Dundee and now based in Wormit, just finished her 10th book after months of work. Each novel takes her six to nine months to write. Yet Meta’s AI has been trained on her latest book, A Blind Eye. She worries that in the near future, the AI could generate dozens of her books instantly.
“They wouldn’t be very good at first, but the more they learn, the better they’ll get,” Marion said. The dataset used to train the model, known as “Lib Gen,” is one of the largest collections of pirated books worldwide.
Calls for Compensation and Government Protection
Book piracy is nothing new, Marion explains, but AI training on stolen works raises the stakes. “Fans of crime novels are voracious, and the idea that my books could be replicated hundreds of times over is troubling.”
The Society of Authors recently protested outside Meta’s UK HQ and has formally demanded compensation for affected writers. Marion supports their efforts and urges government action to create licensing models that protect authors.
Meanwhile, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg defends the practice, noting that AI models are trained on publicly available data and arguing that the harm is no greater than what can be found via search engines. Marion disagrees, stating plainly: “For creativity, it’s not progress.”
Why Writers Should Pay Attention
- AI models trained on copyrighted books can imitate an author’s style without permission.
- This risks devaluing original work and threatens authors’ income.
- Authors and creative professionals should stay informed about AI’s impact on intellectual property.
- Advocating for clear licensing and compensation frameworks is essential as AI development accelerates.
Writers interested in understanding how AI tools interact with creative work can explore resources on Complete AI Training to stay updated on the latest AI developments and ethical considerations.