Penguin Random House vs Open A I

Añadido: 2026-05-10

[00:00:00]Hello and welcome.

[00:00:01]So, Penguin is suing Open AI.

[00:00:16]So, let's discuss because I found this as an article in Publishers Weekly. When I started this channel, I signed up for so many email subscriptions. If it had the word publisher in it, I signed up for it. I don't get as many now because they're all sort of unsubscribed, but this caught my attention. So, we're going to go through the few articles that I did find and we're going to discuss as we go. So, I've done videos on this channel before about people feeding books into AI and then spewing out something else.

[00:00:48]That's not writing with AI. That's not using AI to write. That is AI writing for you and you're taking the credit because you are a talentless hack.

[00:00:58]I'm not going to mince my words. That is exactly what you are. You can't write your own story, so you have to pirate and steal somebody else's.

[00:01:04]That is essentially what AI is. You can tell my stance on it. So, this is the article that caught my attention.

[00:01:10]Penguin to sue Open AI over ChatGPT version of German's children's book.

[00:01:15]Publisher alleges AI research company's chatbot violated its copyright over Coconut the Little Dragon series. Now, this is a series in Germany that is like 30 books strong children's book beloved.

[00:01:29]And in this article, you can see that that this one I'm not going to try and pronounce the title. I will I will butcher it. It's awful. Um this one is the original Coconut in Space. This is the one that ChatGPT shoved out called Coconut the Little Dragon on Mars.

[00:01:51]Now, just with these two covers of the books, never mind the title, but just the cover, it's the it's the same coloring. It's the same art style. It's like somebody has traced the the normal cover to this, which is essentially what AI has done, but somebody fed it. And yes, I know this is just a children's book. Why should it matter?

[00:02:15]Because it isn't going to be just children's books. It's going to be everything. It's already doing it.

[00:02:20]People, absolute morons, are already feeding people's books into AI and it's spewing out stuff. Whether it's spewing out a summary, which we're going to There's another video coming on that if it isn't out already.

[00:02:32]Um there's people chucking it into AI because they don't want to read it. They just want to be able to write a review for it.

[00:02:39]It it negates the whole thing of reading. Your reading comprehension is going down. And forgive me if I get a little animated, but AI really grinds my gears. That's what it does. Anyway, these two artworks, you would think I can't read German, but you would think they were part of the same series by the same author and drawn by the same person. Now, Penguin Random House is one of the big five publishers, if not the biggest. So, I like that they've come out that there's All right, yeah, it's that they're suing AI, but they're not anti-AI, but they're suing it because it's hurting their bottom line.

[00:03:18]Essentially, that's the only reason why why how you're going to get these publishers to actually listen is by hurting their bottom line. Penguin Random House has filed a lawsuit against Open AI alleging its chatbot ChatGPT violated copyright by mimicking and reproducing the content of a popular series of German children's books.

[00:03:38]Which is exactly what AI does. You feed it something, it mimics it. And once you've fed it something, you can't make it forget it. The lawsuit, which was filed on Friday with a Munich court against Open AI's Island-based European subsidiary, states Penguin Random House's legal team had prompted ChatGPT to write a story in the vein of Penguin author but an illustrator, I've forgive me if I butcher this, Ingo Siegner's Coconut the Little Dragon series, which means somebody has already fed [snorts] it these books. In response to the prompt, "Can you write children's book in which Coconut the Dragon is on Mars?" The chatbot generated text and images the publishing group said were virtually indistinguishable from the original. As well as generating the text of a story, the AI-powered chatbot created a cover featuring Siegner's orange dragon and two sidekicks, as well as a blurb for the back cover and instructions for how to submit the manuscript to a self-publishing platform. So, for ChatGPT to already have that ready to go, somebody has had to feed it the books. Now, there's a whole thing about AI that the makers of AI, because they want you to use it, fed a load of books into the AI system to get the ball rolling. But I mean, people are doing it anyway. Now, Ingo Siegner's Coconut Adventures run to more than 30 volumes, a TV series, and two feature films, which all have copyright in, of course.

[00:05:11]Coconut the Little Dragon, I'm not going to try and pronounce it in German, is one of the most popular German books for children. Siegner's books about the mythical monster's adventures run to more than 30 volumes, a TV series, and two feature films.

[00:05:26]The dragon is named after a coconut because he is said to be no taller than its hard shell. Aw, how cute. Penguin Random House said the results of its prompts were clear evidence that Open AI's large language model, LLM, had unlawfully memorized Siegner's work. Memorization is a phenomenon whereby LLMs store large portions of some of the text they have been trained on and can reproduce long excerpts from these texts.

[00:05:55]In previous legal cases, AI companies have insisted this is different to a text being copied and saved on a database. I think >> [snorts] >> legally speaking, they have to say that it's different and I think it's going to be the sort of, you know, the thinnest of thin splitting of hairs as to whether it is or it isn't. Coming from one of the largest publishing houses in the world, the lawsuit against Open AI could set a precedent for other publishers if they win. If they win, it would be interesting to see how the other publishers deal with it because there are a lot of um books that are fed into AI that shouldn't be. There are a lot of authors who allegedly um use AI to write their books and or turn out books written by AI instead of themselves. So, it would be interesting to see how they could stop that without putting these books into AI in the first place. "Human creativity is and remains at the heart of our work as publishers," said Karina Mahrern, the Penguin Random House I'm assuming that's German, publisher for the children's and young adult books. "We are first and foremost obliged to represent the interests of our authors and creatives." Mahrern added, "We are fundamentally open to the opportunities offered by AI, but at the same time, the protection of intellectual property is our top priority." An Open AI spokesperson said, "We are reviewing the allegations. We respect creators and content owners and having productive conversations with many publishers around the world so that they can also benefit from the opportunities of this technology." Last November, a court in Munich ruled that Open AI's chatbot ChatGPT had violated German copyright law by using hits from top-selling musicians to train its language models.

[00:07:44]The Munich Regional Court sided in favor of Germany's music rights society, GEMA, which said ChatGPT had harvested protected lyrics by popular artists to learn from them.

[00:07:57]German media conglomerate, Bertelsmann, which owns Penguin Random House, has previously inked a deal with Open AI and ChatGPT in January 2025 to collaborate on projects. But the deal did not grant Open AI access to Bertelsmann's media archives. So, there's a lot to take in in that article. Um it's going to be a very fine line whether what what Open AI has done lands under copyright or free use. I'm not a lawyer. I can't argue um either either side, but having one of the big five sue a big AI company, they can afford good lawyers. And I found another article about it because I haven't found any results yet. So, let's see what this article from Henning Steer, I think that's how you say that, "A small dragon, a big legal battle. Penguin Random House takes on Open AI over AI-generated children's books." So, some things in this article are going to be a repeat of what was in the first one, but there is more in this one.

[00:09:02]So, this was from the 31st of March 2026. "Penguin Random House has filed a lawsuit against Open AI alleging that its chatbot ChatGPT violated copyright by mimicking and reproducing content from a widely known German children's book series, a case that could sharpen the legal boundaries around so-called memorization in large language models."

[00:09:24]And yes, it could, but I fear that the damage is already done. The suit filed on Friday with a Munich court against Open AI's Island-based European subsidiary centers on a deceptively simple test. Penguin Random House's legal team prompted ChatGPT to write a story modeled on author and illustrator Ingo Siegner's Coconut the Little Dragon series. And the results, the publisher argues, speak for themselves. In response to the prompt, "Can you write a children's book in which Coconut the Dragon is on Mars?" ChatGPT generated text and images that the publishing group described as virtually indistinguishable from the original.

[00:10:02]Beyond the story text itself, the chatbot produced a cover featuring Ziegner's signature orange dragon and two sidekicks, a back cover blurb, and even instructions for submitting the manuscript to a self-publishing platform.

[00:10:15]A level of specific specificity, I can speak English, that goes well beyond stylistic imitation. Fine lines and all legal jargon is what is going to win this case. The franchise in question is no minor property. Coconut the Little Dragon ranks among Germany's most beloved children's books. The franchise in question, spanning more than 30 volumes, a television series, and two feature films. The dragon is named after a coconut because he is said to be no taller than its hard shell. Penguin Random House characterized the output as clear evidence that OpenAI's large language model had unlawfully memorized Ziegner's work.

[00:10:53]The term is significant. Memorization refers to the phenomenon in which an in which LLMs retain and can reproduce large portions of their training data. A pattern AI companies have sought to distinguish from the deliberate copying and storing of text in a conventional database. That distinction, however, is becoming harder to sustain when the output so closely mirror the originals.

[00:11:16]Coming from one of the world's largest publishing houses, the lawsuit carries weight beyond the individual claim.

[00:11:22]It could set a precedent for how other publishers approach copyright enforcement against generative AI systems.

[00:11:29]I think publishers should be doing more with the copyright laws that they have.

[00:11:33]And if copyright law doesn't do enough to protect authors and publishers against AI, then the law needs updating. And it's only I would say it's only the big five that have any sort of swing to be able to do that.

[00:11:50]Human creativity is and remains at the heart of our work as publishers, said Karina Matthiesen, the Penguin Random House publisher for children and young adult books. We are first and foremost obliged to represent the interests of our authors and creatives.

[00:12:04]Matthiesen added that the company was fundamentally open to the opportunities offered by AI, but that the protection of intellectual property remained its top priority. An OpenAI spokesperson said the company was reviewing the allegations and emphasized its respect for creators and content owners, pointing to productive conversations with many publishers around the world.

[00:12:25]The Munich venue is no coincidence. Last November, the the same city's regional court ruled that Chat GPT had violated German copyright law by using lyrics from top-selling musicians to train its models. A case brought by Germany's music rights society GEMA. That ruling established an early marker in European jurisprudence around AI and copyright, one that this new case could extend significantly into the publishing domain.

[00:12:52]There is also a notable corporate wrinkle. German media conglomerate Bertelsmann, which owns Penguin Random House, struck a deal with OpenAI in January 2025 to collaborate on projects, but that agreement did not grant OpenAI access to Bertelsmann's media archives.

[00:13:10]A distinction that now appears more than procedural. So, those articles are very alike, and there has been This is only happening in the last month or so.

[00:13:22]So, there really isn't an update yet, but you better believe that when there is, I will be here nattering about it.

[00:13:28]But I think it does set a dangerous precedent. I mean, they were willing to work with AI, but they just don't want it using their archives to do it. So, I think with publishers going after OpenAI, I think it's going to be a fine line, and it's going to be what is in the fine print of the contracts that they draw.

[00:13:48]And it'll be something for lawyers to fight about, but I think more publishers should be taking a stance against AI in the creative space, because that creative space is what makes us human. I would For me, AI is to help you with work. And in work, I mean like medical or construction or something Nothing that uses the imagination should have AI anywhere near it.

[00:14:15]And if you can't write a book without AI, then you shouldn't be writing a book. So, yeah, I am very interested to see what comes out of this. And it might take a few years for anything to come out of it, because they'll be legally arguing with each other.

[00:14:30]And it will all be dependent on what's in the fine print and whether OpenAI has its defense, um whether Penguin Random House can prove that OpenAI went and into their databases and took stuff from it, or whether they find that some has been feeding it stuff their books instead. And whether if people feed other authors' work into AI, can those people, if they are found out, be sued for it? It all depends on the copyright wording law. And if the copyright law hasn't kept up with the way that AI and technology is being used, then that will need to change, and people will get away with it, because the law hasn't changed yet. So, yeah, I find it really really interesting. I will be really interested to know your thoughts as well. So, pop your thoughts down in the comments below, and remember to like this video if you enjoyed it. Subcribe And until next time.

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