‘This is a land grab’: Expert asks Claude if he should accept a $2,500 work proposal. He gets a chilling response

Two authors were asked to use their book to help “train, fine-tune, and test AI models.” They responded by doing a very 2025 thing—asking AI if they should take the deal or not.

Specifically, according to his LinkedIn post, author David Wolman and his co-author on the book Aloha Rodeo, Julian Smith, were offered $2,500 for the book's text by their publisher, HarperCollins, to be turned over to AI for training.

On one hand, Wolman was happy that they were even being asked. "The fact is that our writing—not just this book but all of our books and journalism—has already almost certainly been used to train AI models without anyone’s permission," he surmised. "But now that we’re talking valuation, is $2,500 fair remuneration for helping empower this technology? How much is our creative DNA worth?"

The authors took the question to four different chatbots—Open AI's ChatGPT, Microsoft's Copilot, Google's Gemini, and Anthropic's Claude—and "asked each for definitive guidance on whether or not we should accept."

They specifically instructed the bots, "Don’t waffle."

"AIs are often rightly accused of giving vague, lowest-common-denomiator answers, but that wasn’t the case here," he shared. "Three of the four models advised us to flat-out reject the offer."

Specifically:

• Gemini called the deal a "trap" and the compensation a "pittance;"
• ChatGPT advised them not to sign and called the offer "entertainingly absurd;" and
• Claude said, "$2,500 is insultingly low... This feels like a land grab dressed up in friendly corporate language."

Copilot was more measured in its response, but there might be a reason for that. It advised, "Remember, in the world of publishing, staying informed and cautious is key to navigating the brave new frontier of AI. And just like in any negotiation, the power of choice remains with you. Keep your pen sharp and your wits sharper."

Would it surprise you that HarperCollins struck an AI training deal three months ago with Microsoft?

Here's the deal

According to EMarketer, "Microsoft signed a deal with HarperCollins to use the book publisher’s nonfiction works for AI model training. The three-year agreement pays each author and HarperCollins $5,000 per book title, which will be split evenly between the two."

It also referenced a Bloomberg article saying, "Microsoft wants the HarperCollins books for a model that it hasn’t yet announced, according to the person, who asked not to be identified discussing plans that aren’t public. The company isn’t planning to use the content to generate new books without human authors, the person said. Microsoft declined to comment."

The EMarketer article goes on to explain, "Authors need to opt in to the training program, and the AI model will be limited to 'no more than 200 consecutive words and/or 5% of a book’s text' in its output."

The article also quotes author Daniel Kibblestein, who took to social media platform X to opine that "he would consider the program if it offered him enough money to never work again, 'since that’s the end goal of this technology.'"

How does Copilot compare?

A ZDNet article assessing the best AI chatbots of 2025 assessed ChatGPT as the best chatbot out there but called Copilot the best ChatGPT alternative, noting that it has a friendlier user interface in its October revamping.

The article notes, "Copilot already had most of the features the free version of ChatGPT gained in May, including access to current events, attribution (or linking to the sources it retrieved from), browsing the internet, uploading images and documents, generating images, and more."

We asked both chatbots, "In 100 words or less, is Copilot better than ChatGPT?" They generated similar answers.

Copilot said, in part, "Each has its unique strengths! Microsoft Copilot is tailored to be a comprehensive assistant, seamlessly integrated with Microsoft tools for productivity and task completion. ChatGPT, developed by OpenAI, excels in engaging conversational abilities and creativity. Both have their place, depending on what you're looking for."

ChatGPT added, "Copilot, integrated into development environments, assists with coding by providing context-aware code suggestions, auto-completions, and debugging help. It's tailored for programming tasks. ChatGPT, on the other hand, is a conversational AI that excels in a wide range of tasks beyond coding, including writing, problem-solving, and answering general questions. Whether one is 'better' depends on the use case: Copilot is best for programming, while ChatGPT is more versatile for a broader range of topics."

Still, though, Wolman assembled his own opinion on Copilot in the LinkedIn post.

"The irony here is quite something. The one 'opinion' that flouted our instruction for specific guidance was generated by Copilot, which is owned by Microsoft. In the end, the AI responses reinforced our thinking on the offer: hard pass."

His reaction

The Daily Dot reached Wolman via email; he said regarding his post, "Reactions have been positive. Readers have been just as surprised by the chatbots’ responses as we were, if not more so."

"I haven’t heard from enough authors to comment on how people feel in general," he said about AI. "However, I certainly know writers who feel cheated. Books, magazines, and newspapers have obviously been essential in training the AI models that will put many writers out of business. The idea that the written word is simultaneously critical for refining AI while not recognized as such, at least in terms of renumeration for its creators, is a tough pill to swallow."

The Daily Dot has reached out to HarperCollins via email.

Internet culture is chaotic—but we’ll break it down for you in one daily email. Sign up for the Daily Dot’s web_crawlr newsletter here. You’ll get the best (and worst) of the internet straight into your inbox.

Sign up to receive the Daily Dot’s Internet Insider newsletter for urgent news from the frontline of online.

The post ‘This is a land grab’: Expert asks Claude if he should accept a $2,500 work proposal. He gets a chilling response appeared first on The Daily Dot.

dailynoti coindeskcrypto cryptonewscrypto bitcoinmymagazine mybitcoinist cryptowithpotato mycryptoslate fivenewscrypto findtechcrunch journalpayments nulltxcrypto newsbtcarea