Don’t gift our work to AI billionaires: Mark Haddon, Michael Rosen and other creatives urge government
Original British art and creative skill is in peril thanks to the rise of AI and the government’s plans to loosen copyright rules, some of the UK’s leading cultural figures have said.More than 2,000 people, including leading creative names such as Mark Haddon, Axel Scheffler, Benji Davies and Michael Rosen, have signed a letter published in the Observer today calling on the government to keep the legal safeguards that offer artists and writers the prospect of a sustainable income.The urgent plea, highlighting the impact on books, comes after stars including Sir Elton John, Joan Armatrading and Simon Cowell sounded the alarm about the effect on the music industry of the impending copyright exemption.John predicted the proposal “would devastate our creative community”, while helping “powerful foreign technology companies”.The letter specifically targets a clause of the government’s upcoming AI Opportunity Action Plan, which argues that an end to copyright restrictions and intellectual property law is needed to allow greater data-mining of artwork and writing.
The signatories say they understand the government aim of boosting growth, but describe themselves as “staring in astonishment” at Whitehall’s eagerness “to hastily wrap our live’s work in attractive paper as a welcome gift to automated competitors”.“Imagine asking ChatGPT to generate your child’s artwork instead of asking the child.And then sticking that on the fridge.It’s a horrible thought, isn’t it?” said children’s book author and illustrator Ged Adamson.“Why then are we scooping up creativity en masse to build something without any soul that will rob us, not only of income, but maybe eventually our ability to think creatively?“The idea that all this work and dedication and honing skills was ultimately just to make tech billionaires even richer – it makes me feel sick, angry and depressed.
”His fellow author Davies said he fears that “the basis of an entire creative culture” is on the point of being sold off.“They’re not even bothering to tell us it will benefit us in the long run because they know that it won’t,” he told the Observer.“Copyright protects individual creative output and this proposal rides roughshod over that.I’m so disappointed with this government.”Sign up to ObservedAnalysis and opinion on the week's news and culture brought to you by the best Observer writers after newsletter promotionBy making the wishes of AI developers a priority and relying on an “opt-out” scheme to protect their work, the campaigners say it would be easy to scrape everything else uploaded online.
The team working alongside Adamson on the campaign, Simona Ciraolo and Momoko Abe, both illustrators and authors, also emphasise the value of fresh creative work to the wider economy, aside from the pride and pleasure it generates.Employing about 2.4 million people, the sector accounts for more than 5% of gross national product, contributing £124bn.“The big tech mission is to replace our work with their output.The livelihood of workers will become their profit,” said Adamson.
The campaign also aims to dispel popular misconceptions.AI, they argue is not innovative.It can only re-mix the past.It cannot discard old prejudices or develop new positions.“If we do not take steps now to protect and respect the space for human culture, creativity and the creators of the future we may lose what it means to be human entirely,” argues supporter Susie Alegre, the author of Human Rights, Robot Wrongs… Being Human in the Age of AI.
“Destruction of cultural heritage is an international crime, in part because it paves the way to inhumanity,Without creatives there is no cultural heritage,”Another signatory, picture book creator Chris Haughton, insists it is not about being “anti-tech”,“But the way generative AI operates is not at all creatively exciting,It is stealing,” he said this weekend.
“If these lobbies succeed in convincing our government we will effectively be handing all the wealth created by the creative industries, hundreds of billions, and giving it all straight to the tech industry.”Abe argues that the representation of diverse and minority groups will take a step back if AI takes the creative reins.“For BAME people, especially east- and south-east Asian, authors and illustrators, the door to the children’s book industry has finally cracked open over the past five years and some of us have managed to squeeze into the super-competitive world,” she said.“But generative AI will create unfair competition for all creatives, and minority creatives would be the first ones to be squeezed back out.”Her co-campaigner, Ciraolo, adds that the early mistakes made with social media are about to be repeated if there is no protest and the right voices are not heard.
“Nothing of what the government proposed offers a single good thing for us.The consultation was designed to create a sense of inevitability, to put people off objecting to it and make us cave in in advance,” she said, pointing out that artists are far from “jealous gate-keepers of privilege”, but instead are hard-working and badly paid.“I am worried we are taking away from kids the opportunity to learn the skills that take effort to develop, but give them a lot of confidence and satisfaction.Generative AI looks like creativity, but it robs you of embodied skills,” she said.The headline of this article was amended on 23 February 2025 to correct the spelling of Michael Rosen’s first name.
Crypto and big tech’s backing pays off as Trump makes tech-friendly moves
The millions that US tech companies invested in currying favor with Donald Trump seemed to pay off this week as the new administration issued a flurry of directives that relaxed regulations and dropped lawsuits previously aimed at holding the industry to account. Crypto, AI and social media companies, many of which made donations to Trump, are all expecting to benefit.At the center of the administration’s moves is Elon Musk, the world’s richest man. Over the past week, federal agencies under the president’s authority dropped legal fights against his rocket company and the US’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange. The White House also issued a “deregulatory initiative” aimed at loosening tech-sector regulation by empowering Musk’s Doge
Elton John calls for UK copyright rules rethink to protect creators from AI
Sir Elton John has called on the government to rethink proposals involving the relaxation of copyright rules in the hope of protecting creative talent from AI.The singer and songwriter is among a growing list of public figures to express concerns about plans that would allow tech firms to use online material, including creative work, for AI without permission.Under current government proposals, creators would need to opt out of their work being used, however some of the campaign’s advocates, including Simon Cowell and the author Kate Mosse, have called for an opt-in system to be put in place.“We only achieved that success with the backing of our longstanding copyright protection – the world’s gold standard,” John told the Daily Mail, while highlighting the industry’s impact on creating jobs and economic growth.“The music community has always been quick to adopt new technologies … but adoption of this copyright exception would destroy the UK’s leadership that has been hard won, and what’s worse, it would give it all away
How to navigate apps, from checking safety to remembering passwords
With more and more organisations asking you to download an app to access the best deals, or even use their services at all, you may be wondering how to deal with the technical side of all of this technology. Fear not, our consumer technology editor, Samuel Gibbs, has some tips.Delete unused apps and games.Move photos and videos to iCloud, Google Photos or similar.Clear out your WhatsApp photos, videos and gifs
How poignant to see loved ones frozen in time on Google Street View | Letters
All the overwhelming opposing emotions that Adrian Chiles went through happened to me too when I casually looked at our street on Google Maps (My dad died a year ago – and a photo of him on Google Street View brought me up short, 19 February). There was the palliative care nurse at our front door waiting to be let in, standing by our small red car. My husband had terminal cancer and this amazing nurse was incredibly supportive to all of us. The car was his little runaround while he was still able to drive. The picture must have been taken in 2017, not long before he died
Quantum computing is already here, sort of | Brief letters
Your article (Microsoft unveils chip it says could bring quantum computing within years, 19 February) said that this new class of computers, unlike current machines, will be “based on quantum mechanics rather than classical physics”. While the Babbage machines might be described as using classical physics, I firmly believe there are elements of quantum physics involved in the tablet on which I am writing this.Prof Stephen HollowayLiverpool Even better than Clare Finney’s suggestions (‘The classiest gift I’ve heard of’: what to bring to a dinner party (that isn’t wine or chocolates), 19 February), I think, is to arrange for flowers to be delivered two days earlier so the host has time to arrange them before the day of the dinner party. Arriving with a bunch clutched in your hot little hand and giving the host yet another task is not classy at all.Heather ParryWatford, Hertfordshire It isn’t going to bed that is the problem, Emma Beddington (Why is it so hard to go to bed? Maybe science has the answer, 16 February), but getting up in the mornings – any ideas?Carolyn MartinMawnan Smith, Cornwall Given that the KGB ceased to exist in 1991, it is a testament to its resourcefulness that one of its agents targeted a Tory MP in 2022 (Report, 20 February)
Apple removes advanced data protection tool in face of UK government request
Apple has taken the unprecedented step of removing its strongest data security tool from customers in the UK, after the government demanded “backdoor” access to user data.UK users will no longer have access to the advanced data protection (ADP) tool, which uses end-to-end encryption to allow only account holders to view items such as photos or documents they have stored online in the iCloud storage service.Apple said it was “gravely disappointed” that it would no longer be able to offer the security feature to British customers, after the UK government asked for the right to see the data.It said the removal of the tool would make users more vulnerable to data breaches from bad actors, and other threats to customer privacy. It would also mean all data was accessible by Apple, which could share it with law enforcement if they had a warrant
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