It is time for some fierce pushback from the artistic community and lovers of the arts to Generative AI Leaders.

Ai-Da, the world’s first ultra-realistic artist robot who draws and paints using cameras in her eyes, AI algorithms, and robotic arms. Photo: Medium

The Artificial Intelligence tsunami must be accepted, in some respects, as a fait accompli. Its usefulness as a tool, especially given its contributions to medicine and science, should be gratefully acknowledged. But the use of AI as an aggregator and generator of words, music, and art is nefarious at best and will be career-ending for many. It is time for some fierce pushback from the artistic community joined by lovers of the arts. Below is a petition signed by Arts Fuse writers — we welcome more signees from within our ranks and beyond. Add your voice to the comments section below and your name will be placed on the growing list.

Even more important, here you will find the Authors Guild’s Open Letter to Generative AI Leaders as well as an opportunity to sign a petition in support of the organization’s class-action lawsuit against OpenAI. Consider digitally signing and propagating the statement you find there (and the one in the Arts Fuse) to any media, website, or group that you think would be or should be concerned with this issue.

— Steve Provizer

The undersigned Artsfuse.org writers wish to publicly voice our concern about AI. Banks of AI computers have and continue to gobble up (“train” on) millions of copyrighted works without paying a fee. The authors whose works they have used to construct their “large language models” may or may not be cited or may be incorrectly cited. Writers have no say in how their words will be used. They may be distorted or taken out of context to disseminate false, misleading, or defamatory information.

Some segments of the writing community have been able to take steps to slow down this process. The Writers Guild of America was able to negotiate with producers concerning the use of AI. The Authors Guild and 17 best-selling authors have filed a class-action lawsuit against OpenAI. Their suit claims that OpenAI should have paid a licensing fee for any work not in the public domain.

The Authors Guild lawsuit automatically covers the work of fiction writers who have sold more than 5,000 copies of their work. While some Artfuse writers may fall in this category, most of us are freelance journalists and nonfiction writers. However, we fully support the Authors Guild efforts and agree with what they themselves say, that “…a positive outcome of this case will resound to the benefit of writers from all genres.” Note: Here you will find the Authors Guild’s Open Letter to Generative AI Leaders and a way to sign a petition in support of the lawsuit. Please send the letter and petition around.

All writers, indeed artists of any kind, should have the right to decide when their work can be used to train AI and should be compensated for that use. We recognize that this technology can make a positive contribution, especially in the realm of science. However, now is the time for new policies and regulations to be enacted that will ensure that the irresponsible use of AI is held to a minimum.

Signed:

Bill Marx, Editor, The Arts Fuse

Steve Provizer
Ralph Locke
Evelyn Rosenthal
Matt Hanson
Neil Giordano
Susan Miron
Bill Littlefield
Debra Cash
John Mulrooney
Kai Maristed
Thea Singer
Tess Lewis
Adam Ellsworth
Mark Hänser
Drew Hart
Allen Michie
Michael Marano