The AI Age for publishers is officially underway, says PW’s Andrew Albanese. Online tools are available that can do for free what Captions does – create an AI-generated transcript of a book or TV show.
Catching up with PW's Andrew Albanese
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On Tuesday this week, attorneys representing Audible, the Amazon audiobooks subsidiary, notified a federal court judge that it and seven major publishers have settled a lawsuit over the proposed Captions program for e-books.
This suit was first filed in August of 2019 by publishers who claimed that Audible’s proposed Captions program, which scrolls a few words of an AI-generated transcription alongside an audiobook’s narration in the Audible app, amounted to blatant copyright infringement.
Audible countered that the Captions program enhanced the audio experience, and that it was protected by fair use.
“The parties have asked for another week to get signed documents over to the court for approval, so we don’t have any details yet. But we can say that this news means the court won’t have to rule on the publishers’ bid for a preliminary injunction nor on Audible’s motion to dismiss the copyright suit,” reports Andrew Albanese, Publishers Weekly senior writer.
“And here’s another takeaway: the AI Age for publishers is officially underway. As Audible lawyers pointed out to the court, there are already online tools available that can do for free what Captions does —that is, create an AI-generated transcript of a book or TV show or whatever,” Albanese tells CCC’s Chris Kenneally.
“AI has loomed in the abstract over the industry for some time. But in the next decade, AI is going to get really good, and there are going to be lots of commercial applications,” he says. “The dawning of the Age of Artificial Intelligence is going to represent a challenge for publishers.”
Every Friday, CCC’s “Beyond the Book” speaks with the editors and reporters of “Publishers Weekly” for an early look at the news that publishers, editors, authors, agents and librarians will be talking about when they return to work on Monday.
