The Creators’ Rights Alliance (“CRA”) – a coalition that acts on behalf of “major creator-led groups, trade associations, and unions, between them representing over 500,000 individual members working as professional creators in the UK’s creative industries” – has written to AI developers about the unauthorised use of its members’ works to develop generative AI models.

In its letter, the CRA states that the “Creators’ Rights Alliance and the creators they represent do not authorise or otherwise grant permission for the use of any of their works protected by copyright and/or related rights (including performers rights) in relation to, without limitation, the training, development, or operation of AI models, including large language models, diffusion models, generative or other any other AI products, unless the creators have specifically agreed licensing arrangements”. As with the Society of Author’s letter (see separate article in this N2K) although this letter does not expressly say so, it is presumably intended to function, to the extent required in the EU, as the so-called text and data mining ‘opt-out’ under Article 4 of the DSM Copyright Directive, as well as delivering the necessary warning in the UK and elsewhere.

Whilst the CRA recognises the usefulness of generative AI programs in certain areas, the letter points to the “vast amount” of works protected by copyright which are being used to develop AI models without the authorisation of the rightsholder(s). Against that background, the CRA urges that AI models are “developed and used in a legal, sustainable, and ethical manner”. It cites the recent report from the House of Lords Communications and Digital Committee (on which we commented here), which endorses the position that (1) AI developers should not use works protected by copyright without permission or compensation, (2) licences should be obtained from rightsholders, and (3) there should be greater transparency for rightsholders.

In stating explicitly that its members do not authorise the use of their works without licence, the letter states that the CRA is making it clear that its members “do not accept that any AI platform had or has the right to use their work without an express license, or their personal data without express consent”.

The letter proceeds to call on AI developers to do the following:

1. To provide full transparency about the works which have been used to develop their model;
2. To make detailed requests for any works they seek to use in future;
3. To obtain authorisation (in advance) from the relevant creator and rightsholder, and where a rightsholder is licensing a catalogue of works to seek assurances that the creators of those works have specifically consented to the licensing arrangement;
4. To offer appropriate remuneration for all uses – past and future;
5. To give appropriate attribution to all creators concerned with the work, in all cases;
6. To engage in good faith licensing negotiations to redress past bad practice, to remove from their systems any copyright protected works (including but not limited to literature, images, music, and performances) which has been used without authorisation (datasets and programs) and to show evidence of such removal;
7. To respect the fact that there may be occasions where creators and/or their representatives may, on ethical and/or economic grounds, choose to withhold their consent for the use of their work.

The letter concludes by urging developers to “agree terms on a commercial basis with respective rightsholders and where those rightsholders are not the creators themselves, to satisfy themselves that creators have given specific consent.”

Commenting on the publication of the letter, Chair of the CRA, Nicola Solomon, said “creators are innovators. They are keen to use AI tools but need trusted systems that do not have the potential to infringe the rights of human creations, or their styles and personalities. Creators need to be consulted, give consent and be remunerated when their work is used to develop AI models. If we work together, we can create high quality robust systems that enhance the work of human creators and reward their creativity.”

To read the letter in full, click here