Writers race with artificial intelligence

The key questions are whether digital media threaten traditional publishing, whether in the future it will even be possible to distinguish an original from a falsified text, whether and how the age of accelerated technological development makes the work of publishers more difficult, and where the author is in all of this.

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Debate on copyright, Photo: Jelena Kontić
Debate on copyright, Photo: Jelena Kontić
Disclaimer: The translations are mostly done through AI translator and might not be 100% accurate.

The Podgorica initiative, such as a declaration that would work on solving the copyright problems faced by literary publishers today, could contribute to the cooperation of regional publishing houses, organizers of book fairs, but also to the promotion and quality of the literary scene, with a tendency for it to be relevant in the future an association that would bring together most of the regional entities in that field.

This is the idea and conclusion of the debate on copyright and cooperation of publishers in the region, which was held on the third evening of the 17th International Podgorica Book and Education Fair in Podgorica.

Some of the issues raised by the participants in the discussion are the position of the author, authentic creativity, its point if it is not protected, but also the "race of writers with artificial intelligence"... The key questions are whether digital media threaten traditional publishing, whether in in the future it will even be possible to distinguish an original from a forged text, whether and how the age of accelerated technological development makes it difficult for publishers, and where the author is in all of this. At the same time, these are also issues that are discussed on a global level, in publishing and literary and artistic circles.

The director of the publishing house Clio took part in the panel discussion on the topic of copyright and cooperation of publishers from the area of ​​ex-Yugoslavia. Zoran Hamovic, director of the publishing house Archipelago Gojko Božović, director of the publishing house International Center for Peace Ibrahim Spahic, director of the publishing house Kashmir promet Kasmir Huseinovic, director of the publishing house Nova knjiga Predrag Uljarević and director of the Department of Textbooks Aleksandra Hajduković.

The unanimous conclusion is that the copyright issue is in one of the most challenging periods. Uljarević said at the beginning that this is just one of the reasons why it is inevitable to think about a joint initiative of publishers, who should think about an association or a similar model of cooperation as soon as possible.

Božović stated that copyrights are not sufficiently respected in our systems, because they are not considered property rights, and he emphasized that this issue, nevertheless, affects readers first.

"In the age of digital media, a whole series of books subject to copyright, from the point of view of authors and publishers, are in free circulation on the Internet. This kind of piracy undermines the interests of authors, thereby reducing their motivation to create works that they cannot protect ". Publishers in environments where they cannot protect copyright will be in a constant struggle for survival. But this issue fundamentally affects the interests of readers the most because it prevents us from publishing many important books and genres", said Božović and added that if "the borders are not borders and does not problematize the issue of copyright, there are possible devastating consequences for contemporary literature, culture, humanities"...

"The key issue is joint engagement and raising awareness of the importance of addressing copyright issues... The least we can do is share experience and cooperation where professional publishers might need each other's support. The concept of copyright as we know it is experiencing a serious challenge , among other things, because of new media and technologies," said Božović.

Za The issue of freedom is particularly important to Spahić.

"We should never forget that the issue of copyright is an issue of freedom of expression, speech, writing, and if you want, freedom of reading. And that is limited, because today, even when you read a text, research, scientific work in full freedom, you have predetermined frameworks of interpretation," he pointed out.

Huseinović, as a publisher and author, believes that the main problem is the knowledge, that is, the ignorance of small and large publishers... I also believe that self-publishing on the Internet has endangered our profession, the criteria have also been lost, and thus the entire publishing profession is collapsing. but authorship. The biggest problem, in my opinion, is the flat rate that big publishers strive for. It's hard for us little ones to protect ourselves," Huseinović concluded.

He added that the meaning of the discussion on that topic is the definition of the problem and looking at the possibility of joining together to find a solution.

The director of the Clio publishing house, which is this year's honorary exhibitor at the fair, Zoran Hamović, also referred to the problem of copyright protection from the aspect of artificial intelligence.

"Certainly, in a nutshell, it can be said that today there are no more copyrights, because with all this that is happening with artificial intelligence, some kind of responsibility for the author's work practically ceases. At this moment, this represents a big challenge for all of us, which is much deeper than what is technically regulated copyright in the legal sense. This is a question that touches much more on the author's work and its permanence. Now there is no longer any difference between what we used to label as forgery and abuse, and what is a living, organic work of authorship. Questions that we are setting today do not only concern the problem of the protection of author's work in the digital environment, but also in general, because we are still trying to protect printed, recorded author's work according to the law," claims Hamović.

Hajduković reminded that ZUNS is the only state publisher in Montenegro, which gives it additional weight in the selection of literature production, but regardless, they face the same problems, most often in the desire of buyers, i.e. readers, to go cheaper...

"Even though we are a state publisher, we also encounter copyright infringement. The creation of a textbook does not happen overnight, it is a process that lasts at least a year... However, our efforts in the final fall into the water, because we encounter a violation by the fact that our textbooks are copied as much as possible, which is often used because of the price, and now they are already given away," she said.

Hajduković also concluded that book fairs are an important place for meeting and discussing these topics, but that such events should undergo a certain change...

"The model of the fair that we have nurtured until now is probably already in history. What comes as a future order for organizing future fairs is to find an adequate space, to make an attraction from where the publishers are located, to create an environment of connection with new media because it is the environment in which the younger ones swim and to create communication with them. You cannot lose them or force them to do what they don't want to do. You need to approach them from the other side and motivate them to enter the space that is still of great importance for intellectual development. In the end, such a story should be closed with some kind of conference where you will check their knowledge, feelings and give them the stamp of the values ​​they carry from the manifestation," concluded Hamović.

With its editions, "Clio" creates reading material for the modern intellectual

In the previous part of the program, Zoran Hamović presented the work of the publishing company "Clio", which is this year's guest of honor, celebrating 30 years since the publication of the first book, or 33 years since its foundation.

He reminded that "Clio" was founded at the end of the twenties of the last century in a stormy time when great social upheavals were taking place, with the basic idea of ​​creating reading material for the modern intellectual with its editions and being a kind of support for a free-thinking person.

The publishing concept is characterized by profiled editions, from world prose, history, anthropology, psychology, communication and media studies, management and marketing, ecology, essay writing, via theory, history and criticism of artistic practice, to librarianship, museology and educational policy.

With this, "Clio" defied trends and at the same time created them, resisting various challenges of traditional and then modern publishing, remaining faithful and consistent to quality as a basic criterion.

On a wider international level, "Clio" also played an important role in restoring broken and strengthening weakened ties in the field of culture, and as a task and mission, a certain type of rebellion remains in the context of preserving freedom of thought, reasoning and leading with the quality of reading...

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