More than 700 artists, writers, and creators are backing an anti-Al campaign and accusing major tech companies of exploiting copyrighted work without permission.
On Thursday (Jan. 22), the Human Artistry Campaign announced an advocacy campaign, “Stealing Isn’t Innovation,” which represents a number of creatives in protest of Big Tech’s “illegal mass harvesting of copyrighted works to build and power their Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) platforms.”
It warns that continued unlicensed use undermines incentives to create new work, sidelines creators economically, fuels misinformation, deepfakes, and low quality “Al-slop” material. It ultimately concludes that Al degrades the supply of high-quality, human-created data.
The campaign promotes licensing as a workable solution that defines authorized uses, compensates creators, preserves opt out rights, and aligns with existing law, noting that many Al licensing deals already exist.
Notable supporters include Scarlett Johansson, Cate Blanchett, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Jennifer Hudson, Common, Questlove, Black Thought, Chaka Khan, Jill Scott. Other names include Jimmy Jam, The Roots, Cyndi Lauper, Bonnie Raitt, Ledisi, Tayla Parx, Ryan Tedder, R.E.M., OK Go, OneRepublic, and MGMT.
The signatories argue that the creative economy "supports millions of jobs, fuels economic growth and projects cultural power globally," but is being undermined by Al developers that collect creative material without authorization, compensation, or transparency.
“America's creative community is the envy of the world,” reads the campaign’s letter. “But rather than respect and protect this valuable asset, some of the biggest tech companies - many backed by private equity and other funders — are using American creators' work to build Al platforms without regard for copyright law.
“Artists, writers, and creators of all kinds are banding together with a simple message: Stealing our work is not innovation. It's not progress. It's theft - plain and simple. A better way exists - through licensing deals and partnerships, some AI companies have taken the responsible, ethical route to obtaining the content and materials they wish to use. It is possible to have it all. We can have advanced, rapidly developing AI and ensure creators' rights are respected.”
For more information and to view a full list of signees, visit www.stealingisntinnovation.com