The Creators’ Rights Alliance (CRA) has today (7 August 2024) reaffirmed that its member organisations and the creators that they represent do not consent to their works being used to develop generative artificial intelligence (AI) by sending letters to AI technology companies.
The CRA, which represents over 500,000 creators through its member organisations, said that they ‘do not authorise or otherwise grant permission for the use of any of their works protected by copyright and/or related rights (including performers rights) in relation to, without limitation, the training, development, or operation of AI models.’
To date, generative AI models have been developed using vast amounts of copyright-protected work without consent, transparency over data sources or remuneration for rightsholders and creators. The copying of rights-protected works without authorisation is against UK law.
The letter asks for compensation for rightsholders and creators who have had their works used in this way, and for the option of having their works, and derivations of those works removed if they so wish, and to receive full credit were permission has been granted.
The letter also calls on developers of all AI systems to provide transparency about the works used to develop models, obtain advanced authorisation from creators and rightsholders when their works are used to develop models and offer appropriate remuneration and attribution for all past and future uses. Members organisations of the CRA include the Society of Authors (SoA), the Authors Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS) Equity, the Musicians’ Union and the National Union of Journalists amongst others.
We were pleased to see the letter refer to the House of Lords Communications and Digital Committee enquiry into Large Language Models report, to which we submitted evidence. The report supported the fact that tech firms should not use copyright-protected works without permission or compensation, that there should be support for licensing, and that there should be transparency for rightsholders.
The SoA welcomes the CRA letter and will shortly be sending letters to AI developers to opt-out on its members’ behalf.
- Take the ALCS survey to share your views on two potential licensing options for works used in developing AI systems.
- Worried about your work being used to train generative AI? See our practical advice for members here.