Stated simply, we believe that humans should write, edit, and publish books. Upriver Press will not: (A) publish any content generated by artificial intelligence; (B) will not use AI for any element of the editorial process; (C) will not license our books to AI companies for any reason, thereby protecting the intellectual property rights of our authors and their agents.
Our Reasons
There are many types of AI that serve many different purposes. Some uses of AI can be helpful. So our reasons for not using AI only pertain to book publishing.
First, we (along with most publishers) oppose the business models that undergird generative AI companies. To train their large language models, most AI companies have disregarded and often used stolen copyrighted content—the hard work of journalists, authors, and publishers. When companies blatantly disregard intellectual property, they undermine the foundations of a vibrant culture and democracy.
Second, under current US law, only humans can own a copyright. Machine-generated text loses all copyright protection. This is obviously bad for both publishers and authors. Authors who want their names on a book cover must write the book. Seems obvious.
Third, we believe that a flood of AI-generated “slop,” combined with its high association with confabulation, will further erode people’s ability to know what is real and factual. When people do not know what is true, society becomes more prone to the negative effects of propaganda and disinformation, often including social division and political manipulation.
Finally, generative AI—being mechanistic—lacks all ethical capacity. AI companies ask people to blindly trust the monolithic ethical “guardrails” of a small cadre of people who design the algorithms. Moral and ethical decisions belong with authors and publishers who are sensitive to each book’s purpose, audience, and cultural context.
How We Prevent AI-Generated Text
We use Pangram to verify all manuscripts. This service has a 99 percent success rate in identifying AI-generated text.
We are members of Books By People, which provides third-party certification that our books are not written or edited with AI.
Our authors’ publishing contracts include a no-AI requirement.
Our staff agrees to never use AI in the editorial or design work.
