Copyright and AI training

[vivdunstan]

Heads up for fellow academics as well as other authors. I'm not a prolific published academic, but at least two of my academic journal papers (on Scottish book history and library history) have been pilfered for AI training purposes. All done without my permission. You can search for these at https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2025/03/search-libgen-data-set/682094/

Lots of academic papers (co-authored) from Martin on there as well. And loads by my historian and computer scientist friends. It's also amusing seeing author namesakes. I now know which academic with a similar name (my maiden name - I have some early published academic work under my maiden name) is publishing prolifically about healthcare and medical matters! That Academia.edu keeps emailing me unhelpfully about, referring to "Vivienne Dunstan"!

Comments

[a_cubed]

I have quite a common name, particularly in the short variants with initials. Academia.edu keeps sending me suggestions for papers I might have written. I felt moved once to actually write to them and suggest they at least let users set an "I did not publish anything before this year" setting, so that papers published in the 1970s by any of the many "A Adams" don't trigger a "did you write this". Still getting them, they didn't seem to think it was worth their while.

There is even an Andrew Adams who used to write for the Japanes Times and wrote a book about Ninja: https://usadojo.com/andrew-adams/ so I'm not even the only Andrew Adams with a strong connection to Japan.

[vivdunstan]

Aarrgghh! I'm just relieved to have finally found the other Vivienne, because it was really bugging me. She shares my maiden name, and first name, but Academia.edu constantly emailing me "Are you the Vivienne Dunstan who published on .... ?" did not help me find her at all! This is assuming she does not share both my surnames ... ;)

[watervole]

Just tested it with a friend's name. Yep, she's had half a dozen taken. She's a costume historian.

[vivdunstan]

I'm lucky they've just nabbed 2/29 papers or book chapters of mine. But I also have friends who've had far more taken. Sympathies for your friend too!