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Comment by MattPalmer1086 | Hacker News Reader

Every single author I follow is outraged their copyrighted books were sucked up by these AI companies.

But yeah, feel free to be honoured that some company can profit from your work without recompensing you in any way.

Not everybody, like Kevin Kelly and Tyler Cowen for example are not.

I'd imagine that these men use their publications to advertise their personas, and their livelihood is made via celebrity and appearances. That's why you know their names.

Authors who make money primarily by creating art and selling it, and who do not wish to monetize their work through selling their persona, might have more of reason to be upset by the blatant violation of their legal rights by Sam Altman and his friends.

That's correct. Writing is not the main source of income for either Tyler or Kevin. Their books are mostly advertising pamphlets for their respective ideological agendas, economic & technological growth & advancement. Both are now on the record about their support of writing books for AIs instead of people b/c they think that the primary way people will get their information in the coming years will be from AIs instead of books so they want their ideas to be part of the AI biases that can then influence whoever is querying the AIs.

I think now is a little golden age for LLMs usefulness before they are further enshittified by people's agendas and profit motives. Not that they aren't already to a degree but I expect it will get a lot worse fast.

Or (heaven forbid) to spread their ideas. Could one be that old?

AI hatred is a shibboleth in western creative circles in 2025, but that doesn't mean it's wise or useful. It's also not universal (e.g. Chinese creatives are happily experimenting with AI). And the shibboleth may not last as AI improves. Most people will eventually adapt; those who don't adapt will drop out and disappear from the conversation.

Thank you for your attention to this matter!

And after what happened in the 2000s with the internet and authors ...

When did AI companies start turning a profit? /s

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