Kobo, a subsidiary of Rakuten who sells e -books and leaders, built its name to be a more open and friendly version of Amazon Kindle. However, the recent change in the company’s self -publishing works has some writers who are concerned that the reputation may change. Last month, the company updated it Its publishing platform, which opened the door for the features of artificial intelligence on the platform. With the entry into force of the new contract on June 28, the authors appear to be more clear in what it means to their future on Kobo.
For the authors who did not divide (or choose) traditional publication alike and Provide a way to sell books without the need to represent or publishing. If they are able to provide their work and the information necessary to create a store page – and they are ready to work not only the author but the marketer – they have everything they need to sell their books.
Approval of the sale on one of these platforms comes with a list of conditions. The largest is the division of sales. If one of the authors sold his novel for $ 2.99 or more on Copo’s life, they keep 70 percent of what they earn. On the Kindle Direct Direct Plastic platform, there are two options for property rights – 35 percent and 70 percent – but both have a link Some of them can significantly reduce the profits of authors. The calculation of the mandate from the fees for exposure makes the authors develop strong preferences for the platform they choose. But the conditions for the service that is published according to which are also important – and it seems to be subject to change with a little warning.
Engadget occurs with three authors who were surprised by Kobo’s decision to experience artificial intelligence. All of them note that the company has published new service conditions due to a simple banner notification at Kobo Writing Life Dashboard. To date, a month after changing the conditions, the company cannot clarify how the new conditions are applied to the current work. There is also no way for authors to cancel the subscription. If anyone in Kobo contradicts any extent of the use of artificial intelligence, then his best and the only option is to stop publishing there, and perhaps withdraw their current works from the platform.
The authors we spoke were surprised by that Cubo had not reached the proposed changes in advance, but also that the company was choosing to work with artificial intelligence at all. “I appreciate their transparency in being explicit about their use of Amnesty International,” wrote Michel Manus, author of the imagination on the Kobo platform, to English e -mail. “What I think is less than his appreciation is how hated their user base from artificial intelligence.”
The new Kobo conditions are clear in saying that the company does not plan to use the authors’ work to train artificial intelligence. However, it reserves the right to use “artificial intelligence, machine learning, deep learning algorithms or similar techniques” to read, analyze and process “writing a variety of non -training purposes, including:
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“Promotion of business discovery” with signs and targeted customer recommendations
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“Evaluating the suitability of business” for sale in the Kobo store
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“Getting Resources” such as “Create major words, promotional content, targeted ads, customer participation and other material strategies”
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Providing summaries, reading assistance and accessible features.
The authors have assumed a problem with a clear lack of asylum. What happens if the work is marked incorrectly as one type when its author believes that it fits another directly? Or what if the “promotional material” generated by Kobo includes a kind of hallucinations? The largest issue of the book that Engadget was the possibility of publishing Kobo in the publishing of Recaps that was created by artificial intelligence. The Amazon carried out Using the Improvised IQ to help readers return to a series or remember their place in a novel, some authors have already found examples of the company’s artificial intelligence
“We have gone immediately,” Oh, well, we see what you are trying to do, but we do not believe that the thing you are proposing is to work to address the problem you are trying to address, “said Delilla One, a fictional and creative author on YouTube, for Engadget. Since the self -published authors tend to be more responsive to their fans, these types of issues can present this relationship. For danger, Manos wrote: “The authors often get a reaction from the readers about the conspiracy options, and I can only imagine the levels that you can rise if they receive incorrect summaries of what happened in a book.”
All authors are English with admirer attempts to address complaints in public places. On Bluesky, the CEO of the company Michael Tampelin was published Enter the logic of including the artificial intelligence item in the company’s terms. Basically, Tamblyn wrote, Kobo is trying to make the task of connecting readers with authors easier, and simplifying the moderation process that goes to keep the Kobo store, all while avoiding the flow of copyright. “We are completely not interested in creating new content using the authors’ books, and we do not do anything that allows us to do this,” Tamblyn Books. “We do not want anyone else to do so too because we are in the field of selling books and we would like to be able to continue doing this.”
Approval of the non -training of obstetric artificial intelligence with the author’s work is what all professional writers were encouraged to claim publishers before A professional organization calling for the book and currently participating A lawsuit against Openai. By choosing the lack of training of obstetric artificial intelligence on books, Kobo begins on the right foot. The skeptical nature of the material that is fed in the artificial intelligence model is still leaving many questions. “Keep in mind that all models are currently trained illegally, and I mean all large LLMS (large language models),” says Mary Rasinberg, CEO of the authors Syndicate. “So they may use the artificial intelligence system not one of the large LLMS, but any system they use may depend on one of the large LLMS.”
Kobo did not respond to a request for information about LLM that you plan to use. As for the work that may be classified or distinguished by the company, the company encouraged the authors to contact them via its supporting email, which the authors say has responded to complaints so far. The company says it did not start testing what it describes as a “beta feature” to create a “custom summary” in the KOBO application. It is noted that he is “not interested in doing complete summaries of books.” Instead, Kobo plans to make its conclusions specific to each reader, about 150 words in length based on both the two pages that they read in the last reading session and the quotes that highlighted it.
E -book platforms take a cautious approach to artificial intelligence on a large scale. Authors who are published through the Apple books platform He can Ownership It was created from their work, but doing this is completely optional. The Press Press of Barnes & Noble does not offer AI products currently. Recaps’s Amazon is currently the most invasive uses of males across the e -book market and authors Among them. “It does not matter how much money we achieve from Amazon. We all hate dealing with it.” I have made clear that self -publishing authors are afraid of changing KOBO because it currently contains friendly answers to the authors of most Amazon products. She said, “I cannot describe how much we want Cobo to succeed, like us, we will root them,” she said.
Each company appears to be keen to continue to pay the limits of a place and how Amnesty International can implement. Waan’s hope is that Kobo is participating in a type of open forum with authors about the proposed uses of technology. Wuan said: “I think it is really difficult to decide, as an author, will I pull my books?” “Since the moment you pull your books, it is a full headache, because you should update all links. If you have ads working, you will steal them. It is not simple as turning off the lighting key.” It is difficult as it can be a decision, the authors of the self -published authors will have to make it increasingly.
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