Don’t train your model on my novel: AI refusal statements

Abstract

We describe the phenomenon of statements forbidding generative AI (genAI) training on copyright pages of novels. These AI refusal statements typically claim that the book’s text was not made with genAI tools and forbid use of the book to train genAI models. A sizeable minority of recent books, across many genres, and in both traditionally published and self-published works, have these statements. While probably lacking legal force, they show authors' motivation to keep their works out of AI training and give a space for collective action. We bring these statements to the computational creativity community to reinforce our community’s ethical standards and enable better collaboration with creative humans.