Members of Equity, the UK performing arts and entertainment union, are calling for other trade unions to join its campaign to protect the rights of creatives from AI-based misuse.
The organisation unanimously passed a motion at their annual conference in Derry to request collective action from the British trade union movement to demand fair remuneration, informed consent and copyright protections as the entertainment industry increasingly turns to AI technologies.
The motion will be put forward at the annual Trade Union Congress (TUC) – a federation of 48 British unions representing more than five million people – in September.
Equity’s requests include consent and pay requirements for training generative AI models on the likeness of real people and copyright protections on creative works to be respected by AI companies.
“It is simple, it is clear. It is that creative contributions belong to the artist principally… It also means should any of us agree to participate in using AI, it must include informed consent, that we be fairly remunerated, and that abuse of trust must not be tolerated,” said Feyesa Wakjira, an actor and Equity councillor.
“This will protect our industry and our members, and above all our creative independence.”
In 2022, Equity launched the Stop AI Stealing the Show campaign, a movement consisting of all creatives’ concerns over the potential for the AI sector to unfairly use the work of real people for training.
Last year, the union told UKTN that if it could not reach an acceptable agreement with the government and AI industry, it was prepared to hold mass industrial action similar to the 2023 Hollywood strikes.
The Houses of Parliament are currently reviewing a bill that to determine the legality of AI developers using copyrighted material without permission.
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