In what was a surprising demonstration of unity, the UK’s national newspapers – almost all of them, from the Guardian to the Daily Mail – have joined together to fight back against the government’s plans to allow AI companies to use their content without either permission or payment.
The Make It Fair campaign
The united front of newspapers is part of the new campaign Make It Fair, which appeared across news websites and front pages across the nation. The timing of this coincides with the last day of a consultation by the government, which proposes giving certain AI firms automatic access to online content unless the creators of it specifically decide to opt out.
Publishers have argued that the approach will unfairly benefit big tech companies and that it could even risk the future of journalism in the UK. The well-established UK creative industry relies on journalists, who are often highly experienced and trained in their field or hold a journalism degree from an establishment such as https://schoolofjournalism.co.uk.
The government plan could be seen as a real threat to professionals and the entire creative industry, across newspapers, music, television, and more. These sectors are responsible for generating a whopping £120bn for the UK economy each year.
The big concern
The problem is that AI companies may scrape and use years and years of carefully crafted content to train their models, and they wouldn’t be under any obligation to pay for it or even ask to use it. This means the onus would be on creators and journalists to protect their work, which they feel is unfair and should be within the government’s remit to enforce.
The message from editors, publishers, online and print newspapers, and more was clear: AI may be innovative, but it should never come at the cost of creators’ rights. Musicians and journalists have united in their mission to prevent the government plan, even supporting the cause with a silent protest album, called Is This What We Want?, in a call to prevent the legalisation of content theft.
