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A Personal Connection to AI
In 1989, we bought a tiny house in the shadow of the medieval city walls of Carcassonne. It was the beginning of my love affair with Languedoc — the history, the arcane mysteries hidden in the landscape, the endless blue sky, the light over the mountains at dusk. It would inspire my first historical adventure novel, Labyrinth, which would go on to be translated into 38 languages and sold in more than 40 countries. Its global success is the reason I could give up my day job and become a full-time writer.
The Disillusionment
Imagine my dismay, therefore, to discover that those 15 years of dreaming, researching, planning, writing, rewriting, editing, visiting libraries and archives, translating Occitan texts, hunting down original 13th-century documents, becoming an expert in Catharism, apparently counts for nothing. Labyrinth is just one of several of my novels that have been scraped by Meta’s large language model. This has been done without my consent, without remuneration, without even notification. This is theft.
The Threat to Creativity
I’m excited by artificial intelligence and its possibilities. Using technology to enhance, develop, experiment and innovate is part of any artist’s toolkit. We need time to create and, potentially, AI can give us breathing space to do the things we love. But stealing intellectual property is an assault on creativity and copyright, and will undermine the UK’s world-leading creative economy. The time has come to group together and act.
The Debate in Parliament
This has been a busy month in parliament for AI. On December 3, the Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society launched the report “A Brave New World?” at a meeting of the All-Party Parliamentary Writers Group. This survey of some 13,500 authors’ attitudes to AI threw a hand-grenade into the one-sided debate about the illegal scraping and crawling of authors’ work and the misconceptions surrounding it.
A Call to Action
I believe that the government should support the Kidron amendments and ensure that AI companies are held accountable for their actions. We need a fair and enforceable system that protects creators’ rights and allows them to thrive in the digital age. The UK has one of the most thriving, innovative and profitable creative industries in the world, worth some £108bn per annum. The publishing industry alone contributes £11bn each year and has the potential to grow another £5.6bn in the next decade.
Conclusion
The time has come for creators to stand together and demand that their rights are respected. We are not against change, but we are against the theft of our work. We believe that a fair and balanced approach is needed to ensure that the UK remains a global leader in the creative industries. We urge the government to reconsider its plans and work with us to create a system that benefits both creators and AI companies.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What is the current state of copyright law in the UK?
A: The UK has a robust and fair system of copyright law, which has been in place for centuries.
Q: How does this relate to AI?
A: The rise of AI has raised new questions about the ownership and use of intellectual property, and the UK government is consulting on how to update its laws to reflect these changes.
Q: What are the Kidron amendments?
A: The Kidron amendments are a set of proposed changes to the data (use and access) bill that would make UK copyright law enforceable in the age of generative AI.
Q: What is the current debate about in parliament?
A: The current debate is about whether AI companies should be required to obtain permission from creators before using their work for AI training, or if creators should have to "opt out" of their work being used for AI training.
