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UK writers’ union, Writers’ Guild of Great Britain (WGGB), has published a policy statement addressing concerns around artificial intelligence (AI), titled ‘Writers and AI’, with recommendations including AI developers only use writers’ work with express permission and the launch of an independent AI regulator.
A recent WGGB survey, carried out in April with 500 responses, saw 65% of respondents state they believed an increased use of AI will reduce their income from writing, while 61% were worried that AI could replace their jobs.
This comes following an early impact assessment by AI research non-profit OpenAI which indicated that the exposure risk to poets, lyricists and creative writers was amongst the highest, at 68.8%.
Concerns outlined in the policy statement, Writers and AI, include decreased job opportunities for writers, the suppression of writer pay, infringements of copyright and the use of writers’ work without their permission, plus lack of adequate regulation from the government, with 81% of respondents to the WGGB survey felt that writers should be paid a fee when their work is used by AI systems.
One suggestion with a backing of 59% of respondents from the WGGB survey is for the UK government to set up a new independent regulatory body, whose remit specifically covers AI, applicable to all future and previous AI development work.
Scroll down for the full list of WGGB recommendations
WGGB believes that while AI systems are not yet sophisticated enough to accurately mimic the standard of writing produced by professional writers, this could happen in the future. The union said in a statement that it “does not believe that AI will ever be able to match the originality, authenticity, enthusiasm and humanity that professional writers put into their storytelling”.
WGGB deputy general secretary Lesley Gannon said: “There have been some incredible advancements in AI, but as with any new technology we need to weigh the risks against the benefits and ensure that the speed of development does not outpace or derail the protections that writers and the wider creative workforce rely upon to make a living.
“Regulation is clearly needed to safeguard workers’ rights, and protect audiences from fraud and misinformation. WGGB is proposing a series of sensible recommendations that will help protect and reassure the writing community, whilst allowing them to enjoy the benefits of this undoubtedly powerful tool.”
WGGB has responded to a recent government consultation on the extent to which AI could be regulated, with the UK government outlining its “pro-innovation” approach and ambition to “become an AI superpower” in white paper AI Regulation: A Pro-innovation Approach.
Last month, UK creative works trade union Equity launched an AI toolkit to help protect performers from what it described as a “surge in unregulated technology”. AI remains a key point of contention in the ongoing US writers’ strike and possible strike from US actors’ union, SAG-AFTRA.
Writers and AI recommendations
- AI developers should only use writers’ work if they have been given express permission to do so – reflecting the view of 80% of respondents to the WGGB survey.
- AI developers should maintain clear and accessible logs of the information used to train their tool to allow writers to check if their work has been used – reflecting 82% of survey respondents who said developers should be transparent about what data they have used in creating AI systems, including where they have used writers’ work.
- Where content has been generated, or decisions have been made by AI and not a human being it needs to be clearly labelled as such.
- Where AI has been used to create content, AI developers should appropriately credit the authors whose work has been used to create such content.
- 59% of respondents to the WGGB AI survey believed that a new, independent regulator should be set up to oversee and monitor the expansion of AI and the union believes the Government should set up a new regulatory body whose remits specifically covers AI, applicable to all future and previous AI development work, so that writers and others are able to assert their rights regarding work which has already been used without their knowledge or permission.
- The Government should not allow any copyright exceptions to allow text and data mining for commercial purposes. This would allow AI developers to scrape writers’ work form online sources, without permission or payment.
- There should also be clear, accessible and affordable routes for writers to challenge the practices of AI developers and bring claims regarding the use of their work.
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