Cambridge University Press encourages its authors to "opt in" to GenAI licensing

You may not have the right to read this

From the Cambridge University Press website

Last summer we reported that several major scientific publishers had signed contracts with tech corporations to license the content of their publications as training data for generative AI. “[I]t’s reassuring,” I had written at the time, “to know that the Cambridge [University Press] agreement only concerns books, not journals; and — crucially — that a Cambridge ‘author who has any concerns can opt-out.’” Even better, opting out is the default; authors who do not choose to opt in are protected from licensing.

As far as I have been able to ascertain, CUP’s extensive (and rapidly growing) list of mathematics books is not involved in this agreement. There was no mention of it by my friends at CUP’s convivial table at the Seattle Joint Mathematics Meetings; as the editor (along with Tom Haines) of a CUP mathematics book, I would expect to have been invited to opt-in if its contents were being considered for licensing.

But I also know authors of CUP books in areas other than mathematics. One of them shared with me the letter received from CUP, while expressing doubt as to whether or not I (and a fortiori you) had the right to read it. The letter explains the licensing policy and, most intriguingly, encourages authors to opt in. There is a carrot —

if your work is used in a generative AI licensing deal, we will be paying a royalty of 20%

and an implicit stick—

In many cases, content may have already been used without licensing, and while we will also be working to ensure that your work is not used unlawfully, this opt-in approach is our best route for protecting your copyright and being able to enforce limitations on the use of your work.

It’s nice to receive royalty checks but for most university press books they aren’t hefty enough to overcome ethical qualms. I’m told that a typical scholarly book sells 5000 copies at best. Royalties on book sales are calculated (at 10-15%) as a percentage of the sales price; but the 20% royalties for licensing is calculated by “divid[ing] revenue equally across all content items in the licensed collection.” In the absence of information about how much the tech partner is offering for a given collection, it’s impossible for me to estimate how big the carrot will be in practice.

If I understand the stick correctly — please correct me if I don’t — CUP is saying that opting in provides authors with recourse against unlicensed use of their content, presumably because the tech company licensed to train with the content has means well beyond those of CUP (not to mention the authors) to deploy the full force of the law against possible pirates.

CUP’s generative AI licensing FAQ page (also referenced in the letter copied below) reaffirms the opt-in policy:

As a contracted author or editor of a Cambridge title, can I choose to not have my work included in licensing to train generative AI tools?

Yes. We are asking royalty-bearing rightsholders contracted under author and editor agreements to opt in to having your work in AI licensing deals, so you will have a choice on whether to be included. Those rightsholders will sign an addendum to their contract to explicitly allow for this type of licensing. Please note that all co-authors or co-editors in a title will be required to give permission before it can be included in a licensing deal.

Some of our existing third parties for distribution and discovery may also move forward with adding AI tools to their services, and so please be aware that if you do not sign the relevant author or editor addendum, that may affect our ability to include your work in existing licensing arrangements in the future.

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                    The letter sent to CUP authors regarding content licensing

Following developments in artificial intelligence (AI) during 2022 and 2023, Cambridge University Press is receiving content licensing requests from providers of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI). We value our authors and editors and want to collaborate with you to establish a responsible and transparent way forward in this evolving space. As such, we are contacting you to provide more information on our approach and to request your consent for your work to be included in new licensing routes.

You will receive an email within 5 business days containing a link to a digital addendum to your author or editor contract with us for ******* from a system called Ironclad / HelloSign. If you agree that your work should be included in generative AI licensing deals, click the link in the said email to sign the addendum. Please note that it could sometimes land in your junk or spam folder.

We are asking rightsholders of each work to provide a digital signature, and if you have multiple books with us or have been involved in books with multiple editions or volumes, you will receive an addendum for each one. Your timely response in this matter will be increasingly important in ensuring your content can be included.

Context

Generative AI technologies offer opportunities and risks. The use of high-quality scholarly content in training generative AI models will improve the quality and accuracy of tools that are increasingly going to be used in everyday life. There may also be opportunities for your content to have greater visibility and impact if it is properly cited and attributed by AI tools, and to drive the creation of new and innovative products for a range of audiences. Additionally, our existing routes to disseminate your research through third parties such as specialist content platforms or indexers and discovery services will increasingly involve AI components, meaning that opting into AI will be crucial for our long term ability to sell and maximise the impact of your book.

As use of AI grows, we believe that use of the content we publish should be:

· Subject to clear principles around attribution
· Governed by formal licensing arrangements with generative AI providers · Founded on obtaining the relevant permission from all rightsholders

· A source of fair remuneration for author and publisher.

It is a priority for us to work towards these guidelines as we negotiate and agree licences with prospective licensing partners, and it has also been important for us to use this work with our authors to secure their consent for this new licensing route.

What this means for you

Use of your content

If your work is part of a generative AI licensing agreement, it could be used for:

• · Training and testing the foundational models that are then used to create, for example, personal assistant and chatbot tools or discoverability summaries

• · As part of banks of authoritative content that are used, on a perpetual basis, to check and verify the accuracy of information provided by AI tools

  Other use cases will emerge as technology evolves, and our aim is to clearly define and set limits on intended uses of content published by Cambridge University Press whenever we set up new licensing relationships.

  To set expectations with prospective partners, and to ensure the responsible use of the content we publish, we are currently focusing on the following principles in our negotiations with prospective licensing partners:

• · Limits on the amount of text that can be reproduced

• · Requirements that work is appropriately cited where applicable

• · Limits on the ability to adapt or modify your work, or to create new works based on it

• · Limits on sub-licensing of the work, and requirements that it is kept confidential and secure

• · Removal of content once a licensing term has ended

  For more information on how your work may be used, you can see our FAQs here.

  Financial remuneration

  Given the scale of the new opportunities these licensing deals present, we want to ensure rightsholders are fairly remunerated. As such, if your work is used in a generative AI licensing deal, we will be paying a royalty of 20%. For more information on how royalties will be calculated, please see our Author FAQs.¹

  How to send us your response

  You will receive an email within 5 business days containing a link to a digital addendum to your author or editor contract with us from a system called Ironclad / HelloSign. If you agree that your work can be included in generative AI licensing deals, click the link in the said email to sign the addendum. Please note that it could sometimes land in your junk or spam folder.

  If you have multiple books with us or have been involved in books with multiple editions or volumes, you will receive an addendum for each one. Your timely response in this matter will ensure your content can be included.

Why are we encouraging you to opt in?

• We remain committed to seeking rightsholder consent to include work in AI licensing – which has not been the approach for all publishers – but we still strongly encourage you to opt in, as we believe that licensing your content in this way will ultimately benefit your title.

  In many cases, content may have already been used without licensing, and while we will also be working to ensure that your work is not used unlawfully, this opt-in approach is our best route for protecting your copyright and being able to enforce limitations on the use of your work.

If the rightsholders of a work choose not to sign the addendum, the work will not be included in generative AI licensing deals, and, depending on how technology and use cases develop, this may also limit our ability to license it to existing licensing partners or vendors who go on to use AI in the future. AI is becoming a much bigger part of discovery in general, meaning the impact and usage of your book could suffer longer term as increasingly our regular discovery and indexing services move to using AI components to develop their services.

Feedback and queries

The generative AI space is changing rapidly, and we will be providing updated information as and when it becomes available. Please check our FAQs for more information and the latest updates.

If you would like to contact us with questions or to discuss the addendum, please email authorrights@cambridge.org. This will be the fastest way to ensure that your queries are passed on to the relevant teams.

If you believe you are receiving this email and addendum in error, please contact us at authorrights@cambridge.org.

Many thanks,
Cambridge University Press

1. This page has much more information about the details of the licensing process. For example, you can see there that authors who opt in are unlikely to be told which companies will be receiving their “content” at the other ends of the licensing contract:

Which companies are going to be licensing Cambridge content?

In line with evolving legislation around the world, including the European Union Artificial Intelligence Act, we support the principle of transparency around what training data is being used for generative AI tools. In most cases, we will not be able to share details while an arrangement is under discussion due to non-disclosure agreements, but may be able to share information on new partnerships as they are launched.