Firstly, thanks to recent guest on the ask an agent week, Helen Fuller, for a pointer about some really, really important developments regarding AI and writing. See bottom of this email. Secondly, I’ve had a space become free this Monday on our annual top of the range workshop with master book Dr/tutor/award-winning author Rebecca Horsfall. Get in touch here and put the word “Rebecca”, if you’d like me to send you the link. Say if you are a previous guest as I may have a special deal for you.
There are two spaces left in March if you’d love to find out how the tricks and techniques of writing a film can apply to taking your novel to the next level, reply with the word “script” and I’ll send you the link.
And finally Margarita, our wonderful memoir tutor, has added a weekend retreat for anyone who has been on her previous ones, and that includes anybody coming the week before (there are still spaces if you wanted to get a refresher although this retreat is going to sell out so be quick.) Get in touch here with the word “memoir” if you’d like to find out more.
We also of course have our other monthly retreats and some of them are untutored, full information on our website.
Now, here’s that info regarding what the society of authors is telling people about AI and its impact on writers – hope you’re well and you know where I am if you need me.
By the way I’m going to be coming back to everybody with some news about helping to keep Retreats for You going, so watch this space…
Best wishes
Debs
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NEWS FROM THE SOCIETY OF AUTHORS REGARDING AI
(You can also read here).
This morning we launched a ground-breaking report about the impact of Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI). This major new study has been published in partnership with other creator-led organisations. In the report, we call on the government to immediately implement a new regulatory framework to protect the livelihoods of authors and other creators against AI, or risk the decimation of the UK’s £124.6 billion creative industries sector.
We need your help today to make this point clear, and to urge the government to adopt our recommendations now to protect the jobs of authors, translators and illustrators. You can help by amplifying our message and below we’ve provided an extensive set of tools and ideas for you to take part. Your individual support is crucial and will really make a huge difference in the impact we have. You can find details of how to support us at the bottom of this newsletter. Please do what you can today and in the coming weeks.
GenAI is heralded as the next industrial revolution: promising an age of innovation, limitless productivity and economic growth.
But such change comes at a cost: the industrial-scale theft of the UK’s cultural riches. How do we protect and support our artists and creative industries, whilst technology progresses at lightning speed?
Brave New World: Justice for creators in the age of GenAI, a major study of GenAI’s impact on creative work, calls on the government to immediately implement CLEAR, a new regulatory framework to protect the livelihoods of authors, illustrators, musicians, performers, and photographers, or risk the decimation of the UK’s £124.6 billion creative industries sector.
The report uses evidence from over 10,000 creators and is published by the Society of Authors (SoA), the Independent Society of Musicians (ISM), Equity, the Association of Illustrators (AOI), and the Association of Photographers (AOP). It reveals the erosion of creators’ bread-and-butter work in an increasingly AI-driven world.
The findings are stark, showing creators losing income and jobs and having their work stolen across every creative discipline. Key findings include:
- 99% of creators say their work has been scraped without consent
- One in three creative jobs already lost to GenAI
- A third 32% of illustrators report lost commissions or cancelled projects due to GenAI
Authors are also hard hit:
- 86% of authors say GenAI has already reduced their earnings
- 72% of authors say job opportunities have already been cut
- 57% of authors say their career is no longer sustainable
- 43% of literary translators and 37% of SoA illustrators saw earnings fall due to GenAI
- 26% of illustrators and 36% of literary translators report cancelled or redirected commissions
The trade associations behind this report call on government to set a global standard for ethical, human-centred GenAI deployment, with the implementation of a new CLEAR regulatory framework for GenAI consisting of:
C – Consent first: clarify the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (CDPA) to ensure creators’ works cannot be used to train GenAI models with explicit, prior consent
L– Licensing, not scraping: support a statutory licensing scheme for AI training that provides a lawful, transparent route for AI developers to access creative works, ensuring fair payment and attribution to creators
E– Ethical use of training data: create enforceable ethical standards for the sourcing, curation and application of training data
A – Accountability: about which copyright-protected works have been used, how they were obtained and whether they influenced outputs
R– Remuneration and Rights: creators’ work should be attributed and paid for.
The CLEAR framework reflects what creators are asking for, not a rejection of technology, but clear rules that allow innovation to develop in a way that respects their creative work.
We need you
Email your MP
Ask your MP to stand up for creators and the creative industry. Our email tool takes less than 60 seconds to use our template or draft your own letter.
Share on social media
We’ll be posting on our socials through out the day so please share our posts or download the report graphics to create your own, using #JusticeForCreators and #TheWriterBehindTheWords.
Authors, show the creator behind the book on social media by sharing a video reveal. Here’s one our Fellow Tracy Chevalier made earlier.