A Message from the Chair
Millions of books have been pirated and used by Meta to train its Artificial Intelligence
Dear MARION members,
This weekend, like many authors and writers around the world, I have learned that my novel has been stolen by Library Genesis or LibGen, a shadow library made up of millions of books and articles that have been acquired illegally. It has also come to light that Meta, the tech company that owns and operates products including Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, has knowingly used some or all of the LibGen database to train its flagship AI model, Llama 3. AI models such as Llama 3 ingest massive datasets which include copyright materials such as books, essays, articles and journals. Works that have been acquired without permission from and payment to their creator, have been stolen.
We know that authors struggle to generate income from their work. The 2022 National Survey of Australian Book Authors revealed that on average authors earn $18,200 per year from their practice, and $64,900 from all sources of income combined. This annual figure is more than $5000 less than the national average personal income in 2020-21. As a way to highlight the complexity and difficulty of cobbling together a wage within our sector, I have committed to sharing my own annual income and the ways in which I earn it.
Companies like LibGen and Meta are exploiting the quality of our work to develop the very technology that risks displacing us. With the pathways for authors to generate income already so limited, the introduction of AI that isn’t regulated to ensure authorisation, fair compensation and transparency may, as the Australian Society of Authors points out: ‘mean the permanent loss of many professional writers, resulting in a contraction of authentic Australian voices, of unique Australian perspective and a future skills gap.’
In addition, Meta owns and operates the social networking tools many of us, often reluctantly, depend on to market our work and to connect with readers and others within the literary sector. The power a company such as Meta has over all aspects of our sector is extraordinary and for them to profit off us on the one hand while stealing from us with the other, is unacceptable.
How to check if your work has been pirated by LibGen
On March 20, 2025 The Atlantic published reporting on its investigation into the LibGen data set. They have also published a tool that allows authors to search the LibGen database to identify if their work has been stolen.
We know that the creative work of many MARION members exists in this database. If you haven’t already, please use the below tool to check if your work has been pirated by LibGen.
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2025/03/search-libgen-data-set/682094/
What you can do if your work has been stolen
The Australian Society of Authors (ASA) has been doing important advocacy on behalf of writers regarding AI which you can read more about here.
Their recommendations for individuals taking action are as follows:
Send a letter to AI companies telling them they do not have the right to use your work; the US Authors Guild has made a template available here. I have already sent one of these letters, and I urge you to do the same.
Sign the US Authors Guild’s open letter to the CEOs of AI companies here. I’ve done this too.
Read up on the use and impact of AI on the creative industries. This page on the ASA website is a good place to start.
Write a letter to the Attorney-General expressing your concern over the unremunerated, unauthorised appropriation of your work for AI-training. MARION will draft a letter on behalf of all our members in the coming weeks.
If you haven’t already, and if you have financial capacity, consider joining the ASA. The more voters they represent, the clearer their voice will be heard by the politicians with the power to make change.
The Authors Guild in the US has reported that legal action is already underway against Meta, OpenAI, Microsoft, Anthropic, and other AI companies for using pirated books. These claims are made on behalf of all US authors. If we find out about any action that covers authors from other jurisdictions we will let our members know.
Stand together
My writing forms a crucial part of my being. The novel of mine contained within the LibGen database, represents a record of my experience, of my thoughts and feelings from a very particular time in my life. To have such personal expression shared without my consent and without compensation is confronting and deeply upsetting.
When we buy or borrow a piece of writing through the channels that value and respect our artform, we are actively supporting the creative sector. I want to thank you all for being a part of that sector and especially for being part of the MARION community. Creating the wonderful work that you do, especially in the face of such uncertainty, is remarkable and so, so important.
Please reach out if you need to.
Best,
Emma Batchelor
MARION Chair
