Nearly 10,000 authors publish empty book to protest against AI

Nearly 10,000 authors publish empty book to protest against AI
Source: Daily Mail Online

Nearly 10,000 authors will publish an empty book to protest against the use of their work by tech companies to train AI models.

They include Jacqueline Wilson, Kate Mosse, Cecelia Ahern, Sir Kazuo Ishiguro, Sebastian Faulks and Kate Mosse.

It comes as analysis finds that Big Tech's own evidence to support their claim that weakening copyright will boost growth is 'fantasy economics'.

It also follows reports that ministers are planning to delay making difficult decisions on AI copyright rules following a backlash by creatives.

The title - Don't Steal This Book' - is published by renowned authors Jacqueline Wilson, Kate Mosse, Cecelia Ahern, Sir Kazuo Ishiguro, Sebastian Faulks, Kate Mosse, Jeffrey Archer, Antony Beevor and Jeanette Winterson.

Musicians including Sir Elton John have previously released a blank album to protest against their work being stolen.

Ed Newton-Rex, a composer and the organiser of the campaign, said:

'The AI industry is built on stolen work - the life's work of writers and other creatives, taken without permission or payment.
'This is not a victimless crime - generative AI competes with the people whose work it is trained on, robbing them of their livelihoods.
'The government must protect the UK's creatives, and refuse to legalise the theft of creative work by AI companies.'

Sir Kazuo Ishiguro, pictured in November last year with the King, is one of the authors named on the empty book to protest against AI stealing the work of creatives.

The Daily Mail is campaigning for authors, publishers and musicians to be paid a fair price for their work and to have their copyright respected.

Tech giants want an exemption to copyright law for their AI machines to learn from creative works without paying or crediting their owners.

But the Government is reportedly planning to kick decisions on copyright down the road after a consultation did not yield a favoured option.

Ministers have abandoned making contentious changes to UK copyright rules that would have made it easier for AI companies to access content, according to reports.

The FT said one person with knowledge of the Government's response to a two-month consultation on how to deal with AI and copyright said a decision would be 'kicked down the road.'

It came as a report by management consultants Oliver and Ohlbaum which reviewed modelling for tech firms found their claims did not stack up.

Modelling for AI firms did not prove that exempting them from the laws will help the economy, it found.

It said that the reports wrongly assumed that copyright was the main constraint on AI growth and ignored more significant barriers including skills shortages and energy.

None of the reports explained why changing copyright rules would be decisive for UK competitiveness, it added.

Commissioned by the News Media Association, Publishers Association and Publishers' Licencing Services, the review found that allowing AI firms to opt out of copyright would not deliver net economic growth for the UK.

The three economic modelling reports from Microsoft/Public First, the Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA) and the Centre for British Progress did not provide any evidence that diluting copyright would give the UK a competitive advantage, the authors added.

Owen Meredith, CEO of the News Media Association, said:

'O&O's rigorous analysis exposes Big Tech's claims that degrading copyright will deliver growth for what they are: fantasy economics.
'The modelling they rely on ignores the real constraints on AI deployment in the UK and completely fails to account for the catastrophic consequences that weakening copyright would have for our world-leading creative and media sectors.'