U.K. Creative Industries Call for an AI Regulatory Framework
About one week after Hollywood luminaries and industry associations such as the Writers Guild of America and the Recording Industry Association joined forces in the Human Artistry Campaign to criticize AI giants for stealing their content, creative groups in the U.K. have banded together to demand AI protections from their government.
The Society of Authors (SoA), Association of Illustrators, and a handful of other professional organizations in the arts released a report today arguing that, unless the U.K. government implements a regulatory framework for generative AI development, the jobs of authors, illustrators, musicians, performers, and photographers are at serious risk.
Economic Impact on Creators
The report, entitled Brave New World? Justice for Creators in the Age of Gen AI, shows that many people in the creative sector have already suffered economic losses due to AI companies using their content without their consent or remuneration.
According to the report, 86% of authors surveyed state that AI has already reduced their earnings, 72% say that job opportunities have been cut, and 57% claim that their career is no longer sustainable. Additionally, 43% of literary translators and 37% of SoA illustrators report a decline in earnings due to AI, while 36% and 26% respectively indicate canceled or redirected commissions.
Tech firms have also trained their models to replicate the distinct styles of well-known authors and illustrators by scraping pirated book datasets. Notably, award-winning children’s book illustrator Chris Haughton was able to create “a squirrel in the style of Chris Haughton” using the MidJourney image generator. In one dataset, the cover for his 2010 book A Bit Lost appeared 88 times.
Call for a New Regulatory Framework
To prevent further issues, the trade associations behind the report call on the government to set a global standard for “ethical, human-centered” generative AI deployment with the implementation of a new regulatory framework they call CLEAR. This acronym emphasizes:
- Creator consent
- Licensing scheme
- Ethical use of training data
- Accountability around how copyright-protected works have been used
- Remuneration and rights
The associations maintain that the CLEAR framework reflects what creators are asking for—not a rejection of technology, but clear rules that allow innovation to develop in a way that respects their creative work.
Government Inaction
The report notes that the U.K. government has done little so far to compel AI companies to respect copyright. Filmmaker Baroness Beeban Kidron, in a foreword to the report, states, “The U.K. government is presiding over one of the greatest acts of theft in modern history: the stripping of the U.K.’s creative industries of their rights, livelihoods, and control over their work.”
She added, “While ministers speak publicly of ‘balance’ and ‘patience,’ they have failed to explain why global AI corporations worth billions should be granted privileged access to the cultural assets of this country—without permission, payment, or accountability—while individual U.K. creators are asked by their own government to sacrifice their futures.”
