Creators speak out: Ask AI developers to stop infringement and pay compensation

Recently, the Creators' Rights Alliance (CRA), which represents more than 500,000 British creators, issued an open letter calling on AI developers such as Google, Meta and OpenAI to immediately stop using their works for training without permission. Generative AI models. The alliance accuses these developers of using copyrighted works without authorization, causing "significant harm" to the creative and financial resources invested by authors, performers and visual creators.

The CRA said its members would not accept any AI platform using their work without an explicit licensing agreement. CRA Chairman Nicola Solomon said in an interview with the media: "Creators are innovators and they are happy to use AI tools, but these tools must be trustworthy and not infringe on the rights, style and personality of human creation." She emphasized that creation When their works are used in the development of AI models, they must participate, give their consent, and receive corresponding remuneration. Solomon added: “If we can work together, we can create high-quality and robust systems that both enhance the work of human creators and get the rewards they deserve.”

Demand transparency and protection of creators’ rights

In its open letter, the CRA requested compensation for creators whose works have been used to train and run various types of AI models, especially generative AI models such as ChatGPT or Gemini. Under UK law, it is illegal to use copyrighted works without consent. The CRA also requires that creators should have the option to remove their works and derivative works from these models and obtain full copyright notation if they have agreed to use them.

In addition, the CRA imposes several key requirements, including that AI developers must transparently disclose the data used to train models, obtain prior consent from creators, and label all past and future uses. The open letter was signed by several CRA member organizations, including the Writers Guild of Great Britain, the Writers Copyright and Royalties Society, the Writers Guild of Great Britain, the Musicians Guild and the National Union of Journalists, among others.

The impact of AI technology on creative industries

The application of AI in creative industries has become a sensitive issue. In October 2023, major music publishers — Universal Music Publishing Group, Concord Music Group and ABKCO — filed a lawsuit against AI company Anthropic for alleged copyright infringement. The Claude AI assistant developed by the company has been accused of using copyrighted music data to train its model. Likewise, several writers have filed copyright lawsuits against OpenAI’s ChatGPT, a model trained using billions of data sets from around the web.

Last year, Hollywood actors and writers launched a five-month strike demanding that AI not be used to replace their jobs. In February, famed director Tyler Perry suspended his $800 million expansion plan in Atlanta over concerns that OpenAI's new AI model, Sora, could generate "real" videos from text. He said he was "very, very concerned" about Sora's technology, which he believed could lead to "the loss of a lot of film industry jobs."

Source: Getty Images Hollywood actors and writers have launched a five-month strike demanding that AI not be used to replace their jobs

In the UK, a survey by the Writers Guild of Great Britain reportedly showed that 65% of respondents believed AI would limit their income and 61% feared the technology would put them out of a job.

With the rapid development of AI technology, creators have become increasingly vocal, demanding that their rights and interests be protected. This open letter is a strong response from the creative industry to AI infringement, reflecting the majority of creators’ concerns about the misuse of their works and their strong demand for fair compensation.