Artificial intelligence machines capable of generating text-based works pose a serious threat to the writing profession and to our literary culture. Generative technologies built illegally on vast amounts of copyrighted works without licenses—without giving authors any compensation or control over the use of their works—are used to cheaply and easily produce works that compete with and displace human-authored books, journalism, and other works. Without the guardrails that the Authors Guild is fighting for, the market dilution caused by AI-generated works will ultimately result in a shrinking of the profession as fewer human authors will be able to sustain a living practicing their craft and inevitably shut out important, diverse voices.
This is not just a problem for authors and their ability to make a living from their work—of particular concern to the Authors Guild—but a problem for all. Our literature and arts, the creativity which Americans excel at and we export around the world, will decline. Unless we can limit AI’s use of books and journalism to permissioned use that gives writers compensation and, most importantly, control over how AI models can be used, we will find ourselves in a world of homogenized mashups of what has come before, and we will lose the written works that incite the public discourse fundamental to democratic culture.
The Authors Guild believes that it is crucial for our culture and the future of democracy to ensure that our literary arts remain vibrant and diverse.The Authors Guild believes that it is crucial for our culture and the future of democracy to ensure that our literary arts remain vibrant and diverse.
What the Authors Guild Is Doing
To protect the future of writing, we are:
- Suing AI companies for copyright infringement over their theft of authors’ works to “train” generative AI;
- Lobbying for sensible policies and regulations governing the development and use of AI;
- Helping to build a market for legal, controlled licensing of works for AI use;
- Educating government officials, legislators, authors, and the public about the impacts of generative AI and equipping our members with the knowledge and tools they need to navigate this new landscape;
- And more.
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We welcome your ideas of how we can protect the writing profession and literature (in the broadest sense) in the age of AI.
We brought strategic litigation to compensate authors for past illegal uses of their works by AI companies.
Copyright Lawsuit Against OpenAI and Microsoft
The Authors Guild and 17 authors filed a class-action lawsuit against OpenAI on behalf of a class of fiction writers for copyright infringement of their works of fiction in September 2023. The plaintiffs added Microsoft as an additional defendant in December 2023.
The Guild’s legal staff is immersed in discovery as well as developing our arguments in support of our main legal position in the case: that the mass copying of copyrighted books without permission for AI “training” purposes does not qualify as fair use. Under the court’s current schedule, the parties will likely be submitting written briefs on this issue in mid-2025, though the timeframe is subject to change.
Nonfiction Author Lawsuit Against OpenAI and Microsoft
A group of nonfiction writers sued OpenAI and Microsoft on behalf of a proposed class of nonfiction authors for the illegal copying and use of books to “train” generative AI models in November 2023. The plaintiffs include a number of Authors Guild members and council members. We are working closely with the attorneys in this case, which has been consolidated with our suit on behalf of fiction authors for pretrial purposes.
We were the first creator group to go to D.C. to talk about AI. Since then we’ve built relationships with dozens of Congressional offices, consulted on key pieces of AI legislation, and channeled authors’ concerns about AI to lawmakers and policymakers. We also organized a coalition of creator groups to mobilize together on common issues.
| Date | Action |
| March 2025 | Authors Guild Submits Guidance for National AI Action Plan to Protect Writers’ Rights |
| February 2025 | Authors Guild Applauds U.K. Vote to Protect Works from Unauthorized AI Scraping |
| August 2024 | Authors Guild Monitors Advancement of AI Bills |
| July 2024 | Authors Guild Welcomes Introduction of NO FAKES Act |
| April 2024 | Authors Guild Supports Groundbreaking Bill to Create AI Transparency Between Creators and Companies The Generative AI Copyright Disclosure Act would give authors and other creators valuable insight into how their works are being utilized. |
| October 2023 | Authors Guild Calls on U.S. Copyright Office to Require Consent and Compensation for AI Training The Authors Guild submitted extensive comments to the U.S. Copyright Office in response to its call for public input on AI and copyright policy. Read more |
| August 2023 | Legislative Proposals to Protect the Creative Professions and Mitigate Risk of Harm from Generative AI (PDF) Laws, regulations, and policies developed by an Authors Guild-led coalition of 12 creator organizations. |
| July 2023 | Authors Guild Submits Written Testimony in Senate AI Hearing The Guild submitted comments to the Senate Subcommittee on Intellectual Property, elaborating the risks to the writing profession and proposing detailed policy recommendations. |
| June 2023 | Authors Guild Returns to the Hill to Discuss Generative AI The Authors Guild again met with the offices of key lawmakers in Congress to address critical issues concerning generative AI and protective measures for writers. |
| April 2023 | Authors Guild, Creator Groups Meet Lawmakers on AI Issues The Authors Guild went to Washington, D.C., to educate members of Congress and their staffs about the potential harms of generative AI programs to the literary and creative economies and to lobby for legal guardrails that would mitigate the risks. |
| January 2020 | Authors Guild Submits Comments on Copyright and Artificial Intelligence The Authors Guild filed comments with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office concerning developments in AI and the ramifications for authors. |
We partnered with the Created by Humans licensing platform to give authors an easy way to license their works to AI companies—or prevent unlicensed uses of their works. We believe that licensing is the path forward to converting unlicensed uses to licensed uses.
| Date | Action |
| October 2024 | Authors Guild Partners with Created by Humans to Empower Authors in the AI Era This collaboration aims to protect and monetize authors’ works in AI development. Announcement | FAQs on AI Licensing |
| March 2024 | Authors Guild Supports New Fairly Trained Licensing Model to Ensure Consent in Generative AI Training The Authors Guild is pleased to be a supporter of Fairly Trained, an organization that certifies AI models that are not trained on copyrighted work without permission. |
We have been at the forefront of providing reliable and timely information and useful educational resources to authors as they navigate the fast-changing AI landscape.
| Date | Topic |
| March 2025 | Meta’s Massive AI Training Book Heist: What Authors Need to Know |
| February 2025 | U.S. Copyright Office Releases Part 2 of AI Report: What Authors Should Know |
| December 2024 | AI Licensing for Authors: Who Owns the Rights and What’s a Fair Split? |
| November 2024 | HarperCollins AI Licensing Deal |
| October 2024 | Authors Guild Encouraged by Penguin Random House’s New AI Restrictions |
| February 2024 | Authors Guild Releases AI Best Practices for Authors These best practices are designed to help authors navigate issues related to artificial intelligence technologies and their implications for the writing profession. |
| September 2023 | Authors Guild Shares Action Checklist for Authors Whose Books Were Used to Train AI Systems In response to a searchable database of pirated books used to train AI systems published in The Atlantic, the Authors Guild published a list of actions authors could take, including sending a new form letter to AI companies telling them that they do not have the right to use the authors’ books. |
| September 2023 | Authors Guild Shares Practical Tips for Authors to Protect Their Works from AI Use The Authors Guild released a copyright notice prohibiting use in AI training as well as details on how authors could stop OpenAI’s web crawler from accessing their websites. |
| June 2023 | Authors Guild Introduces New Publishing Agreement Clauses Concerning AI The Authors Guild introduced four new clauses concerning AI to its Model Trade Book Contract and Model Literary Translation Contract covering AI-generated book translations, audiobook narration, and cover art. |
| March 2023 | AG Recommends Clause in Publishing and Distribution Agreements Prohibiting AI Training Uses The Authors Guild added a new clause to its Model Trade Book Contract and Model Literary Translation Contract prohibiting the use of an author’s work for training artificial intelligence technologies without the author’s express permission. |
| October 2022 | How Will Authorship Be Defined in an AI Future? If we want to ensure that our literature and arts continue to reflect our current experiences and our imagined ones, we need to ensure that human creators are compensated and their work is protected. |
| October 2022 | AI for Writers: A Threat or a Boon? Artificial intelligence helps writers every day. But will it ever fully replace that human touch? |
| November 2020 | Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Literary Works Authors Guild CEO Mary Rasenberger wrote about copyright law and the rise of AI for The Routledge Companion to Copyright and Creativity in the 21st Century |
We vigorously participate in every available law, policy, and regulatory forum to ensure that authors’ voices are heard.
| Date | Action |
| October 2024 | Sign the Statement on AI Training |
| July 2024 | Authors Guild Demands Prior Consent for AI Use of Academic and News Content The Authors Guild is deeply concerned by recent licensing deals made by academic, educational, magazine, and newspaper publishers with AI companies without consulting their authors. |
| April 2024 | Big Tech’s Disregard for Authors: AG Responds to Tech Companies Harvesting Books A New York Times investigation shows big tech’s flagrant disregard for the importance of books and the talent and hard work of authors. |
| February 2024 | Authors Guild Response To Findaway and Spotify’s Audiobook Terms of Use The Authors Guild brought member concerns about new, overbroad terms of use for Findaway Voices to Spotify, which updated the language the same day. |
| December 2023 | New Authors Guild AI Survey Reveals That Authors Overwhelmingly Want Consent and Compensation for Use of Their Works More than 2,400 authors responded to the Guild’s second AI survey, which delved deeper into some of the issues around generative AI. |
| September 2023 | Amazon’s New Disclosure Policy for AI-Generated Book Content Is a Welcome First Step After months of discussions with the Authors Guild, Amazon announced a new policy requiring those who post content to its KDP platform to disclose to Amazon if the work contains AI-generated content, including text, images, or translations. |
| July 2023 | More than 15,000 Authors Sign Authors Guild Letter Calling on AI Industry Leaders to Protect Writers The Authors Guild submitted an open letter to the CEOs of OpenAI, Alphabet, Meta, Stability AI, IBM, and Microsoft, calling attention to the inherent injustice of building lucrative generative AI technologies using copyrighted works and asking them to obtain consent from, credit, and fairly compensate authors. |
| May 2023 | Survey Reveals 90 Percent of Writers Believe Authors Should Be Compensated for the Use of Their Books in Training Generative AI The Authors Guild published the results of a survey to fully understand and frame important issues around the use and development of generative AI technology. More than 1,700 authors responded. |
AI Resources for Authors
The following resources are designed to help authors understand and navigate issues related to AI and AI licensing. (This needs a better intro.)
AI licensing is a way to enforce copyright and bring control over uses back to the rightsholders.
We have many more resources for authors listed under Guidance for Authors above or in our Resource Library.