It has been reported by The Bookseller that academic publisher, Taylor & Francis, has sold access to its authors’ research as part of an Artificial Intelligence (AI) ‘Partnership and Data Access Agreement’ with Microsoft. According to a press release from the owner of Taylor & Francis, Informa, the deal with Microsoft was struck in May, but news of the deal has now reached the wider public after author Dr Ruth Alison Clemens raised her concerns on X (formerly known as Twitter). According to The Bookseller, Taylor & Francis authors including Clemens were not consulted by their publisher, were not given the opportunity to opt out, and have seen no evidence of extra payment for this use of their work.

We are deeply concerned about this development and the lack of consultation with authors.  Our view has always been that the explicit consent of authors must be secured before their work is sub-licensed to train AI models. It is a new unforeseen use of your work – not contemplated at the time of signing publishing agreements – which may have material consequences for authors. Additionally, a fair revenue share must be negotiated upfront. 

The deal is worth $10 million in the first year, with recurring payments for another 3 years. While this deal was struck in the UK, we know Australian authors published by Taylor & Francis will be impacted.

There is much we do not know about the nature of the agreement with Microsoft, and as of today, Taylor & Francis has not made a public statement responding to author concerns. We intend to reach out to the Australian Taylor & Francis office to seek further information. 

This represents an urgent wake up call for authors and illustrators to be proactive about AI: think about your wishes in respect to artificial intelligence and assert those wishes to your publisher.

We strongly encourage authors, illustrators and agents to negotiate for AI clauses to be added to publishing agreements and have prepared suggested drafting to assist those negotiations.