About 10,000 writers recently jointly published a special book titled "Don't Steal This Book," to protest AI companies using their works for model training without permission. Participants include Nobel Prize-winning author Kazuo Ishiguro, renowned historical novelist Philippa Gregory, and bestselling author Richard Osman, among other literary heavyweights.
It is shocking that, except for the list of authors, the entire book is blank. This highly symbolic act aims to send a clear message to the outside world: if authors' copyrights are not protected, the future creative world will be left barren.
The background and demands of this protest:
Accusations of "creative theft": Newton-Rex, the organizer of the event and a composer, pointed out that the current generative AI industry is built on "illegal plundering." AI companies profit from copyrighted works without payment or permission, which is not only an economic deprivation but also a desecration of creative labor.
Playing with UK copyright law reform: This action takes place at a critical time when the UK government is about to release an evaluation report on copyright law revisions. The current proposed plan tends to allow AI companies to use protected works without authorization, unless authors explicitly choose to "opt out," which has caused strong outrage throughout the creative industry.
Pressure on living space: Writer Marlowe Blackburn emphasized that asking AI companies to pay for training data is a basic and reasonable demand. Generative AI is now competing with creators themselves, and if the law further legalizes such infringement, it would directly deprive countless artists of their livelihoods.
Global wave of legal lawsuits: Last year, AI giant Anthropic agreed to pay $1.5 billion in a class-action settlement over similar issues. The collective voice of 10,000 writers indicates that the confrontation between creators and tech giants in the field of intellectual property is entering a feverish stage.
At the same time, publishing rights licensing services are in the process of establishing a collective licensing scheme, trying to find a way for coexistence between AI and the creative industry by building legitimate channels for usage rights.
