As warnings mount about the existential threats of unregulated AI technology, the Society of Authors (SoA) has joined forces with international writers’ organisations and other creative industry bodies to launch a global Charter setting out commitments to the responsible and ethical use of generative AI services.
Authors including Sir Kazuo Ishiguro, Tracy Chevalier and Kester Brewin have backed the initiative.
Recent warnings from inside AI tech companies have heightened concerns about the risks posed for humanity if developments continue at pace without significant guardrails.
With governments across the globe still not committing to AI regulation and oversight, the SoA has worked with the Creators’ Rights Alliance (CRA) in the UK, the Authors Guild in the United States, the Australian Society of Authors, the Writers’ Union of Canada and the New Zealand Society of Authors to create a Charter of Ethical AI Use in the Creative Industries.
This Charter aims to define how generative AI services should be deployed to help protect and support human creators.
Sir Kazuo Ishiguro said:
“It’s of vital importance that we in the creative industry have a Charter like this to guide, discipline and inspire us; a core set of principles we can debate and continue to review – and around which we can rally to defend what we do and make our voices heard in these pivotal days of change.”
Tracy Chevalier said:
“From authors using AI to write their books for them to publishers publishing AI generated works with no author involved, the book world has a big problem with our relationship to AI. This Charter is a step in the right direction towards transparency, so that we all think more carefully about how we use this shiny new tool.”
Kester Brewin said:
“Created in partnership with organisations from across the world, this international Charter represents a significant moment – not just in the battle for just and fair payment for authors and other creatives, but also in a pragmatic set of principles through which innovation, transparency and fair use can become a reality.
“AI is a technology that respects no borders and its unfettered use will be devasting not just for creativity, but for creation. It is only through international cooperation and action that we can embed not just responsible AI use, but pressure AI companies into taking responsibility.”
By signing up to the Charter, industry organisations such as agents, publishers and prize bodies can pledge to only use generative AI in a transparent, responsible and ethical way, balancing the technological benefits with the potentially devastating impact on people and planet. Building on UNESCO’s 10 core principles of responsible AI, it also includes a commitment to respect the CLEAR framework to protect the livelihoods of creators.
Anna Ganley, CEO of the SoA and Chair of the CRA, said:
“In the vacuum of any meaningful policy from governments, we have come together to define how generative AI services should be governed to protect and support human creators. We have been campaigning for years against unlawful conduct of Big Tech which has shown scant regard for copyright, the risks of unregulated generative AI, and to raise awareness about the inherent risks of this technology, which is not only a danger to human creativity but also to broader society.
“We urge the new Government to use its presidency of the G20 to show global leadership by protecting the safety and security of its citizens through a willingness to regulate and to enforce UK copyright law.
“Whilst this Charter won’t solve the largescale societal threats that unregulated geneative AI poses, it is a small step towards defining what ethical and responsible AI might look like in the creative industries.”
Vanessa Fox O’Loughlin, Chair of the Society of Author’s board and also known as bestselling author Sam Blake, said:
“Now is the time for authors, publishers and industry to commit to ethical uses of AI, to remind Governments that where they are lacking in action, industry will lead. I will be encouraging all of my publishers to sign and urge all industry organisations to show their support for human creativity by adding their name. It’s vital that we stand together, now more than at any other time.”
Jenny Nagle, Chief Executive of the New Zealand Society of Authors, said:
“The New Zealand Society of Authors welcomes this global Charter that prescribes ethical use of AI, and champions legal, economic partnership between the creative and tech economies that respect intellectual property rights.”
