Author Daniel Kibblesmith, known for his children's book "Santa's Husband," shared screenshots on Bluesky of an email from his agent regarding the deal. The email stated that HarperCollins sought permission to include his book in the agreement to train an AI language learning model.

Kibblesmith was not a happy bunny and dubbed the deal "abominable" and criticised the publisher for offering a low fee while potentially contributing to the obsolescence of authors.

HarperCollins defended the partnership, emphasising that it respects authors' rights and allows them to opt in or pass. The publisher believes the deal will improve AI model quality and performance while protecting the value of authors' works.

Kibblesmith, however, sees the move as a short-sighted attempt to profit from AI without adequately compensating authors. He believes this could lead to a divided market where readers seek human connection through literature or settle for AI-generated content.

“It seems like they think they’re cooked, and they’re chasing short money while they can. I disagree,” Kibblesmith told the AV Club. “The fear of robots replacing authors is a false binary. I see it as the beginning of two diverging markets, readers who want to connect with other humans across time and space, or readers who are satisfied with a customized on-demand content pellet fed to them by the big computer so they never have to be challenged again.”