Games Workshop is famously anti-AI, but I was still caught by surprise when the narrator of my new favorite Warhammer 40,000 audiobook read out a warning about training AI systems on the novel itself.
AI models training on books without permission has become one of the big topics in the tech space. Last week, a report by 404 Media alleged that Amazon was buying “massive quantities of books, scanning them for AI training data, and destroying them in the process.”
Last summer, it emerged that Anthropic had shredded millions of physical books to train its Claude AI model. The secret initiative, called Project Panama, was unearthed in a lawsuit brought by a group of authors against Anthropic, which eventually agreed to settle for $1.5 billion despite the ruling largely siding with the AI company on fair use.
And in October last year, a federal court advanced two new theories of infringement against ChatGPT-owner OpenAI in a lawsuit brought by authors including Game of Thrones’ George R.R. Martin. No final summary judgment ruling has been issued yet.
Games Workshop’s websites are plastered with AI warnings. The Black Library website, which is the official home of Games Workshop’s book business, carries the message: “Any use of website content to train generative artificial intelligence (AI) technologies is expressly prohibited.” There are detailed AI warnings in the legal sections of Games Workshop websites, too.
That’s the first time I’ve heard an AI warning actually read out by a Black Library narrator (I’m not sure if it’s the first, but there is no warning read out at the end of the audiobook version of Dan Abnett’s Hive, which released in May).
It is in keeping with Games Workshop’s messaging on AI so far. In January, Games Workshop banned the use of AI in its content production and design process, insisting that none of its senior managers were currently excited about the technology. Then, in July, Games Workshop reiterated its anti-AI stance, and revealed it had launched investigations into recent marketing gaffes that some suspected were AI, to ensure staff were playing by internal rules.
“As noted in our November 2025 half year report, we are not being complacent on the topic, we are carefully monitoring what others are saying and doing,” Games Workshop CEO Kevin Rountree said of at the time.
سەرچاوەی فەرمی بە زمانی ئینگلیزی: https://www.ign.com/articles/warhammer-40000-audiobook-includes-ai-training-warning-read-out-by-the-narrator
