UK creatives are once again voicing their opposition to AI developers accessing copyrighted materials without permission. The Society of Authors has released an open letter urging UK Secretary of State Lisa Nandy to hold Meta accountable for potential copyright infringement related to its LLM, Llama 3. The letter has garnered support from prominent British authors, including Richard Osman, Kazuo Ishiguro, Val McDermid, and Sarah Waters.

A recent article published in The Atlantic on March 20 served as a catalyst for the letter. The article revealed that Meta had utilized LibGen, a vast collection of over 7.5 million pirated books, to train its AI models. Many authors have recently discovered that their work is available on the database, potentially being used by Meta without their consent. A lawsuit in the US claims that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg authorized the use of LibGen’s data to train its AI, with writers Sarah Silverman and Ta-Nehisi Coates among the plaintiffs.

The Society of Authors’ letter states, “These cases highlight the unscrupulous behavior of global tech companies thatexploit copyright-protected material, knowing they will not be held accountable. This must change, and global tech companies must be held accountable and pay for their use of authors’ works.”

The authors are calling on Nandy to bring Meta’s senior executives before Parliament, ensuring they commit to respecting copyrights and compensating authors for any past infringements.

The letter continues, “Authors are almost powerless given the enormous cost and complexities of pursuing litigation against corporate defendants with such deep pockets. We urge you and the UK Government to take all available action to ensure that the rights, interests, and livelihoods of authors are adequately protected. Failure to act without delay will have a catastrophic and irreversible impact on all UK authors, as creators’ rights are being systematically and repeatedly ignored.”

Artists across the creative industries have also recently protested the UK government’s proposal to change copyright law in December 2024. The proposed shift would grant AI developers a copyright exemption, requiring creatives to “opt out” or allow access to their materials.

In February, over 1,000 musicians released an album titled Is This What We Want?, featuring 12 songs that spell out, “The British government must not legalise music theft to benefit AI companies.” This coincided with the UK News Media Association’s Make It Fair campaign, which calls on the government to support creative industries and compensate individuals for allowing AI to train on their work.

During the same week, creatives, including Paul McCartney and Helen Fielding, shared an open letter against the proposal, published in The Times. The letter stated, “There is no moral or economic argument for stealing our copyright. Taking it away will devastate the industry and steal the future of the next generation.”