Taylor & Francis AI Deal Sets ‘Worrying Precedent’ for Academic Publishing.

More and more big names in international publishing are approaching artificial intelligence. Renowned powerhouses in the field have recently proposed a fair number of agreements with various companies, as to gain access to various information-rich archives, an extremely valuable resource for the development of AI systems.

This is the case with Taylor & Francis, an international company of English origin specialising in the publication of books and academic journals. Recently, the company's partner company, Informa, signed an agreement with Microsoft: in exchange for non-exclusive access to the advanced educational content published within Taylor & Francis' academic research, the US multinational will pay USD 10 million at the start of the collaboration, followed by recurring payments for the next three years.

The scholars whose work is directly involved in the affair, however, do not seem particularly enthusiastic about the idea. The main concern is the fate of their own work published through the publishing house.