The Human Artistry Campaign is an organization that seeks to thread the impossibly tight needle of developing and using AI responsibly. As they put it, “in support of human creativity & accomplishment.” I’m still up on my high horse wishing the whole thing away entirely, but HAC offers seven core principles for AI applications, and even I will admit that they are well thought out. All seven recognize human achievement above machine-generated products, and they get very specific on outlining copyright parameters. Things like, copyrights should only be granted to human-made works or intellectual property, governments should not give AI companies any kind of exceptions, and, as we cover here often, AI companies should never be able to use copyrighted works without permission from and compensation for the creators. So HAC launched a new campaign last week that over 700 artists have already signed on to support, including Scarlett Johansson and Cate Blanchett. The name of the campaign really says it all: “Stealing Isn’t Innovation.” Hear hear!

The “Stealing Isn’t Innovation” campaign from the Human Artistry Campaign, which launches Thursday, protests tech companies’ alleged mass theft of human-created works in order to produce tools that could theoretically compete with real creatives.

On Thursday, the Human Artistry Campaign debuted the awareness campaign and revealed more than 700 supporters behind it, while The New York Times ran an ad for the push.

“Big Tech is trying to change the law so they can keep stealing American artistry to build their AI businesses — without authorization and without paying the people who did the work. That is wrong; it’s un-American, and it’s theft on a grand scale,” one of the campaign’s message proclaims. “The following creators all agree. Do you? If so, come join us.”

In addition to Johansson, Blanchett and Gordon-Levitt, industry figures David Lowery, Fran Drescher, Jennifer Hudson, Kristen Bell, Michele Mulroney, Olivia Munn, Sean Astin and Vince Gilligan all signed their names as backing the campaign. Musicians such as Cyndi Lauper, LeAnn Rimes, Martina McBride and Questlove and the groups MGMT, One Republic, R.E.M. and OK Go have also given their support, as did the authors George Saunders, Jodi Picoult, Roxanne Gay and Jonathan Franzen.

The Human Artistry Campaign is composed of a mix of unions representing creators, artists’ rights groups and trade associations like the Writers Guild of America, the Recording Industry Association of America, The NewsGuild, the NFL Players Association and SAG-AFTRA.

The organization encourages tech companies to license works and also to allow creators to opt out of their projects being subject to generative AI training.

“Real innovation comes from the human motivation to change our lives. It moves opportunity forward while driving economic growth and creating jobs,” Human Artistry Campaign senior advisor Dr. Moiya McTier said in a statement. “But AI companies are endangering artists’ careers while exploiting their practiced craft, using human art and other creative works without authorization to amass billions in corporate earnings.”

McTier added, “America wins when technology companies and creators collaborate to make the highest quality consumer and enterprise digital products and tools. Solutions like licensing offer a path to a mutually beneficial outcome for all.”

[From The Hollywood Reporter]

No surprise that Scarlett Johansson got behind this campaign, as she’s had to fight back multiple times over AI companies using her name & likeness without permission. Even when Sam Altman wanted her to be the voice of ChatGPT 4.0 and went about it the right way, by asking her first, they went ahead and obviously imitated ripped off her voice after she very clearly rejected their offer. These AI companies are so untrustworthy! Licensing deals are most likely the best way forward, but I have no doubt the tech bros will still find ways to play unfair. And for what? For getting celeb endorsements or using high quality creative works, but cutting out the actual human beings from consent and compensation? Or just so people can waste a few hours to make videos using material that other people labored over? I’d call it an asinine hobby, except there’s the potential for dangerous misinformation. Say, in the baby-fisted bigly-bruised hands of a mentally ill fascist.

Photos credit: Xavier Collin/Image Press Agency/Avalon, Olivier Huitel/Avalon