Artificial Intelligence
Not even NYT bestsellers are safe from AI cover art
A prominent fantasy novel features a cover apparently generated with artificial intelligence, sparking complaints from artists and book enthusiasts. Earlier this month, readers noted that the back of the UK edition of Sarah J. Maas’ House of Earth and Blood credits Adobe Stock for the illustration of a wolf on its cover. The illustration matches an image created by user Aperture Vintage and marked as AI-generated on Adobe’s site. The move has led to criticism of both Maas and Bloomsbury Publishing, one of the world’s leading independent publishing houses.
While stock image services like Getty Images have prohibited AI-generated illustrations to avoid copyright disputes, Adobe has notably welcomed AI onto its Adobe Stock platform under specific criteria. Such content must be clearly labeled as AI-generated, and contributors must review the terms of any generative AI tools they use to create the images to ensure they have “all the necessary rights” to license them for commercial use. The rules are meant to avoid legal headaches. But the field of AI copyright is muddy, untested territory, and Adobe’s rules don’t clearly address all the issues it raises.
The creative industries are fighting back against UK government proposals to let artificial intelligence companies use copyright-protected work without permission.
The latest protest is a silent album co-written by more than 1,000 musicians, including Kate Bush, and follows a statement signed by 48,000 creatives including Abba’s Björn Ulvaeus in which they warned of a “major, unjust threat” to artists’ livelihoods.
Artificial Intelligence
Kate Bush, New Order, & Damon Albarn Among 1,000 UK Artists Protesting Government’s AI Stance With A Silent Album
Last week, the UK government proposed a new policy that would allow tech companies to use copyrighted works to train their artificial intelligence algorithms. Under the proposal, artists and companies could opt out of having their material used for AI, but it would otherwise give the companies unfettered access to people’s creative work without having to license anything. The proposal has incited widespread anger in the UK’s arts communities, and now a team of 1,000 British musicians has released a silent protest album called Is This What We Want?
Writers, publishers, musicians, photographers, movie producers and newspapers have rejected the Labour government’s plan to create a copyright exemption to help artificial intelligence companies train their algorithms.
In a joint statement, bodies representing thousands of creatives dismissed the proposal made by ministers on Tuesday that would allow companies such as Open AI, Google and Meta to train their AI systems on published works unless their owners actively opt out.
