Around 800 artists, writers, actors and musicians have joined a new campaign calling out mass theft by artificial intelligence companies. The campaign, titled “Stealing Is Not Innovation,” was launched this week by the Human Artistry Campaign and targets the use of copyrighted creations to train generative AI models without consent or payment.
The project involves artists from the United States and around the world and aims to shape public perception, policy, and industry around the use of AI and intellectual property.
The list of signatories includes writers George Saunders and Jodie Pickult, actresses Cate Blanchett and Scarlett Johansson, and musicians REM, Billy Corgan and The Roots.
In a statement read out by the signatories, they jointly criticized big tech companies for copying vast amounts of content while forgetting the creators who made the entire process of AI development possible.
The camp believes this action will lead to a breakdown in trust, a deterioration of the creative sector and an influx of low-quality AI-generated content onto the internet.
This advocacy effort is supported by the Human Artistry Campaign, a coalition that includes the Recording Industry Association of America, professional athletes’ unions, and performer organizations such as SAG-AFTRA. The campaign message will be featured in full-page ads across major news outlets and social media platforms in the coming weeks.
The campaign calls for binding licensing agreements, stronger enforcement of copyright laws, and the ability for creators to opt out of having their work used in training generative AI systems. Organizers argue that licensing offers a plausible path forward that supports innovation without stripping creators of control or compensation.
