AI-generated illustration

Turkey's Nobel Academic Publishing recently canceled orders for thousands of books it believed were intended for artificial intelligence training, editor-in-chief Nevzat Argun told Anadolu Agency. He said AI companies were increasingly seeking Turkish-language academic material through intermediaries.

Argun said a Netherlands-based firm requested more than 3,000 books from Nobel and another 2,000-3,000 from other publishers. Requests for single copies raised concerns, prompting Nobel to cancel the orders. He also said digital platforms offering e-book rentals had received proposals to purchase their entire collections.

Argun argued that feeding academic works into AI systems without clear attribution could obscure authorship, undermine academic standards and discourage research. He distinguished this from open access, where researchers can consult original publications and acknowledge authors through citations.

He said a foreign publisher had offered to pay for Turkish translation data about three years earlier to improve its AI, but later withdrew the proposal. Argun said copyright contracts and legislation had not kept pace with the technology. He urged a payment system that compensates authors and publishers according to how much their works contribute to AI-generated answers.

Key Takeaways

• Nobel canceled bulk book orders it suspected were intended for AI training.
• Argun said digital book platforms also received offers for their complete collections.
• He urged compensation for authors and publishers whose works contribute to AI answers.