IAWG

There’s a reason people can tell when something “sounds AI-generated.” Writing comes from voice, experience, and intention, not scraped text. AI shouldn’t be allowed to steal writers’ work to imitate it. #StealingIsntInnovation

Key takeaway so far from #WIPO informal sessions: creative workers’ concerns are dominating the policy discussions around #copyright and #AI. We’re seen as well-organized. Good work everyone.

This whole 🧵is damning … but here the Meta team specifically discusses using pirated film and television scripts for training.

The Daily Mail has joined the fight to protect the UK's creativity from @UKLabour and AI companies 🙌 They have support from Sir Lucian Grainge, Richard Osman, Andrew Neil, Robert Kyncl, Scott Turow, Baroness Beeban Kidron, Dame Caroline Dinenage, and countless more. And the Conservative party have come out against Labour's plans to upend copyright law to favour AI companies: "Labour must rethink their approach. The Conservatives will defend intellectual property rights". I think the government has vastly underestimated British creators' resolve to protect their life's work from pillage by big tech.

Another fantastic speech from @JamesFrith in Parliament today standing up for the UK's creators. "The argument that restricting AI's access to copyrighted works will stifle progress and leave us trailing behind other territories is incorrect." "I have seen no economic impact assessment that states exempting music and other creative content from licensing, or introducing AI training exceptions, will boost the economy. Yes, jobs from data centers will be welcome - but they are minimal in comparison to those sustained by our creative industries."

You love to see it avclub.com/ai-thomson-reu…

The UK government AI and Copyright Consultation opens today. We want to hear from a wide range of voices. Respond to the consultation to share your views. [Link]: gov.uk/government/con…

“Copyright laws should not be cast aside in favor of new policies obligating creators to effectively subsidize AI technologies under the misguided belief that doing so is necessary to incentivize AI technologies.” —@keithkup @Unite4Copyright @JoeBambridge1 @politico

7 weeks after launching, the Statement on AI Training has hit 37k signatures. Thank you to all who have signed. Still open ➡ aitrainingstatement.org

Given the news that the UK government is going to propose gifting creators' work to AI companies, with the right to 'opt out', here's what I said to the Culture, Media and Sport Committee about opt-outs. tl;dr: they literally don't work, and they are hugely unfair to creators.

The US Copyright Alliance urges the UK to reject proposals to adopt new exceptions for the use of protected works in connection with AI—“We vehemently oppose so-called opt-out provisions which subvert the fundamental nature of copyright & that would be unworkable in practice.”

“A seething letter issued by the guild claims that tech companies have looted the studios’ intellectual property—a vast reserve of works created by generations of union labor—to train their AI systems & the studios have done nothing to stop this theft.” deadline.com/2024/12/wga-sl…

Can someone in the trades please ask Altman et al what they know about separated rights. deadline.com/2024/12/wga-sl…

“The Guild’s collective bargaining agreement—the MBA—expressly requires the studios to defend their copyrights on behalf of writers. MBA Article 50 provides that the studios hold “in trust” rights reserved to certain writers of original works.” hollywoodreporter.com/business/busin…

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Musicians, actors and other creators continue to sign the Statement on AI Training. Hugely grateful to Stephen Fry, Hugh Bonneville, Miriam Margolyes OBE, Kate Bush, and the many other new signatories to the statement, which rejects training gen AI on creative work without a license. 36k signatures and counting. theguardian.com/technology/202…

It's encouraging to see a government report explicitly call out AI training as "unprecedented theft". Congratulations to the @AWG_1 for making the case. FYI @neilturkewitz @ednewtonrex theage.com.au/technology/a-c…

One to watch ⬇️ OpenAI argues that because they have no servers in India, this suit is outside the country’s jurisdiction #copyright #AI

Gift link to the full story is here: theatlantic.com/technology/arc…