@wendychambLD Thank you for your time yesterday - we’re hugely grateful for all your support for creators and your defence of copyright. Let’s #MakeItFair
The rise of the AIthor. Scam-busting journalist Nick Stapleton exposes the AI-generated books being sold on Amazon.
Taken from the summer edition of the @Soc_of_Authors magazine: https://t.co/w2lJRHEqZp
Some encouraging words from @RhonddaBryant, the UK's Minister for the Creative Industries, in today's UK Parliament debate on AI & IP:
"Creators deserve to be paid [for AI training]. 100%. I completely and utterly agree, and so does the government." I hope any legislation proposed will be judged with this in mind.
"It is patently wrong to use pirated material to train large language models." This is a direct response to Meta & other AI companies training on pirated works, and should be noted by US courts.
"Nobody in government is saying that the creative industries are Luddites." For the record, Peter Kyle has characterised the people protesting the government's plans as people who "resist change", but it's good to hear Bryant disagree with this characterisation.
"This is not me reiterating the line about whether there is legal certainty or not." It seems like the government has finally dropped the pretense that there is currently uncertainty over UK law, which is good.
"We must listen to the creative industries before any legislation is brought forward. 100% correct. I absolutely commit myself that that is what we will do." Again, the government should be held to this.
But his insistence that we should be able to build an opt-out scheme for generative AI training that works for creators is hugely mistaken. Irrespective of opt-out schemes' unworkability, they are hugely unfair to creators: most people miss the chance to opt-out. No government that supports the creative industries would replace the current legal requirement (opt-in licensing) with an opt-out scheme that gives AI companies the entirety of the country's creative work by default.
His speech starts at 15:48:10 https://t.co/xmikqzvs63
Read CRA's Chair @DeborahAnnetts keynote speech delivered at 'Next Steps for AI Dev't in the UK' E-Forum - calling on Government and tech to respect creators rights https://t.co/JHgY5Tikku @ISM_music#creatorsrights#techregulation#AI
The in-person generative AI protests have begun.
Authors today protesting the unauthorized use of their books for AI training at Meta’s UK offices.
Expect lots more protests like this.
The in-person generative AI protests have begun.
Authors today protesting the unauthorized use of their books for AI training at Meta’s UK offices.
Expect lots more protests like this.
Help us to protect authors’ livelihoods from the unlicensed use of their work in AI training by signing this open letter ✒️https://t.co/Ta3VCbbxFD #MakeitFair#MetaBookThieves#DoTheWriteThing
Copyright law is not complicated at all. If you want to use an author's work you need to ask for permission. If you use it without permission you're breaking the law. It's so simple. It'll be incredibly difficult for us, and for other affected industries, to take on Meta, but we'll have a good go!
(Btw if you don't really care, that's ok, you don't need to tell me. Use that energy to fight for things you do care about) ❤️❤️
📰 Identical front page on every UK paper today, with homepage takeovers too. Only 2nd time this has happened.
As editors and reporters we fear for the future of quality journalism - with unlawful scraping of content (theft) by AI firms. #MakeItFair
https://t.co/eBKypZU5SS
Exciting news! Sarah Baxter and Lisa Dowdeswell from the Society of Authors @Soc_of_Authors will lead the 'Managing Your Author Career' workshop at the London Festival of Writing 2025! 📚✨
🎟️ Early bird tickets coming soon! Register now: https://t.co/exIOYNvcqB #LFOW25
People from across the creative industries have signed an open letter against unlicensed use of creative works in training generative AI.
Author Sam Blake, chair of the board at Society of Authors and co-signatory, joins #BBCWato to explain why creatives feel threatened by AI.