Artificial Intelligence
Opinion: AI art severs human connection
AI is terrifying.
It’s SkyNet in Terminator, HAL 9000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey, AUTO from Wall-E. For decades we’ve dramatized the dangers of AI in our TV shows and movies, all while bumbling the technology forward into reality.
“Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should,” Jeff Goldblum’s character says in Jurassic Park, minutes before the synthetic dinosaurs go haywire.
Artificial intelligence isn’t threatening to kill us, but it is starting to steal jobs and upend industries. As it sends society scrambling to determine what the technology means for the job market, it also, more subtly, chips away at a deeper part of what connects us as humans: our creativity.
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.
