Big Tech companies should pay artists and writers for the content their artificial intelligence systems consume, a majority of Brits and MPs believe.
New research shows 69 per cent of the public and 86 per cent of politicians think Silicon Valley giants should compensate creators when they use their work to train AI models.
It comes as a new ChatGPT image generator that mimics artists is taking the internet by storm, churning out high-quality images in the style of Studio Ghibli and others.
Fashion chain H&M has also courted criticism by rolling out AI-generated ‘twins’ of real-life models, saying last week it would use them in social media posts and other marketing.
Chief creative officer Jörgen Andersson said the AI models will ‘enhance our creative process and how we work with marketing but fundamentally not change our human-centric approach in any way’.
Successful models who work for Vogue and Chanel, including Vilma Sjöberg and Mathilda Gvarliani, are among the first to be ‘cloned’. Ms Gvarliani described her eerily accurate digital counterpart as ‘like me, without the jet-lag’.
The Mail is leading a campaign, backed by nearly every daily newspaper in the UK, against government plans to exempt AI firms from copyright laws, allowing them to use music, films and articles for free unless creators opt out.
A new survey by Stack Data Strategy found more than half of people think Big Tech should ask permission before using other people’s creations.
Mathilda Gvarliani will be one of the first models digitally ‘cloned’ by fashion giant H&M
H&M chief creative officer Jörgen Andersson says AI-generated models will ‘enhance our creative process and how we work with marketing but fundamentally not change our human-centric approach in any way’
And research by the Publishers Association found 92 per cent of MPs believe AI developers should be transparent with authors and publishers about the materials used to train their models.
There is also cross-party support for fair pay, with 85 per cent believing that training AI without payment undermines authors’ intellectual property.
Kate Mosse, international best-selling novelist and historian, said: ‘Copyright is the bedrock of authors’ earnings and ensures that everyone — whatever their background, their genre of writing — is properly remunerated for their talent.
‘With compelling new evidence emerging all the time about the extent of AI companies’ theft of our works, our calls for transparency and compensation need to be acted upon.
‘MPs clearly recognise this. The Government and AI companies must not ignore it.’
Court documents reported by The Atlantic revealed that Meta employees were actively encouraged to download and use more than 7.5 million books and 81 million research papers from the pirate network LibGen to train the company’s AI models.
Lack of transparency means most rights-holders are unaware when their content is used.
The Government opened consultation on proposals to exempt AI firms from copyright law last December and said it favours a system that would force creators to ‘opt out’
Amid ambitions for the UK to become a leader in AI development, a minority of MPs expressed concerns about the potential impact of financial and disclosure requirements on innovation.
Dan Conway, CEO of the Publishers Association, said: ‘We’re at the generationally critical moment in the UK’s development of a fair and sustainable approach to AI.
‘This polling shows the overwhelming cross-party political support for transparency requirements and compensation for rights-holders
‘We ask that the government listens to MPs and brings forward transparency mechanisms without delay, pausing for breath on the more polarising copyright proposals floated in the consultation.
‘Transparency will support a commercial market for AI deployment which truly works for society, contributes to national security, supports both British tech and creative content businesses to thrive, and fundamentally help drive UK growth.’
