The Creators’ Rights Alliance (CRA), a coalition representing a number of industry bodies in the creative sector, has written an open letter asking technology giants to refrain from using creators’ work to train AI models.

The letter was sent to a range of companies working in software development including Microsoft, Google and OpenAI.

The move comes as video game and voice and motion capture performers strike over an alleged lack of AI protections from developers.

The vote to strike followed more than a year and a half of negotiations without a deal with game makers, with performers demanding fair compensation and the right of informed consent for the use of their faces, voices, and bodies for AI purposes.

The CRA said that while AI could provide useful tools, tech firms need to develop them in a sustainable, legal and ethical way.

It added that it was concerned about the use of “vast amounts” of work protected by copyright without the correct authorisation.

The organisation said that this had caused “great harm” to the creative and financial investment made by authors, performers and other creators.

The letter urges developers to provide full transparency about the work used to develop their models, and to obtain consent from creators and rightsholders before using their works.
The CRA has also called for compensation for rightsholders and creators who have had their works used to develop AI models.

Additionally, it demands the option for creators to have their work removed if they wish and to receive full credit where permission has been granted.

“We urge 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,” the CRA wrote. “Licensing opportunities already exist, and additional models are being developed to facilitate yet more good work.”

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