Thousands of Artists Sign Petition on Copyright and AI

The art world is increasingly expressing concern about artificial intelligence and its use for purposes that harm them. More than 11,500 artists, including Radiohead's Thom Yorke, ABBA's Bjorn Ulvaeus, Julianne Moore, Harlan Coben and Kazuo Ishiguro, have signed a petition raising the alarm over the unauthorized use of their creations to train artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms. The petition, which is still open for signatures, denounces the fact that generative AI technologies use copyrighted artistic content without remunerating creators, which poses a major and unfair threat to their livelihoods. Artists from a variety of fields, including musicians, actors and writers, have signed the petition. Hollywood, for example, has used AI to recreate deceased celebrities and generate images or scripts, raising concerns about the impact on actors and screenwriters. Among those who have signed are actors Julianne Moore, Kevin Bacon, and Sean Astin, as well as musicians such as Robert Smith of The Cure and Jason Kay of Jamiroquai. The music and literary sectors are also affected, as generative AI can create new content based on existing songs, lyrics, or other works without the consent or compensation of the original creators. Composer Ed Newton-Rex, who previously worked in the AI industry, started the petition, criticizing tech companies that use copyrighted content to train their algorithms. In addition, last year, writers such as John Grisham and George R.R. Martin filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, accusing it of "systematic theft on a large scale" of copyrighted content. However, not all artists are against AI - some, like Casey Affleck, have chosen to collaborate with tech companies on AI-powered projects. The move highlights the growing tensions between creators and the use of generative AI technology, especially in the absence of clear copyright regulations in this context.