Scarlett Johansson, REM, and other artists call for an end to AI slop and theft

[Coventina]

A group of hundreds of artists — including big names like Scarlett Johansson, the band R.E.M, and Cate Blanchett — endorsed a campaign against AI slop, railing against "theft at a grand scale" from the major artificial intelligence companies.

The campaign, dubbed Stealing Isn't Innovation, is backed by the Human Artistry Campaign, an advocacy group that works with artists and performers. You can see the full list of signees at the movement's website — but it's an impressive collection of more than 800 folks. Johansson was involved in a famous, public spat with OpenAI over accusations that it improperly used her voice. And funnily enough, rapper/actor Common is on the list after starring in memorable AI commercials for years.

"Driven by fierce competition for leadership in the new GenAI technology, profit-hungry technology companies, including those among the richest in the world as well as private equity-backed ventures, have copied a massive amount of creative content online without authorization or payment to those who created it," a press release reads, via The Verge. "This illegal intellectual property grab fosters an information ecosystem dominated by misinformation, deepfakes, and a vapid artificial avalanche of low-quality materials ['AI slop'], risking AI model collapse and directly threatening America’s AI superiority and international competitiveness."

As we've covered at Mashable, low-quality AI materials — aka slop — have spread widely on social media feeds. And AI companies have used the work of artists to train AI models. The Stealing Isn't Innovation campaign calls for licensing agreements, better enforcement, and the right for artists to opt out of their work being used to train generative AI. The Verge reported the campaign will run ads in news outlets and on social media in an effort to spread its message.

https://mashable.com/article/artists-cate-blanchett-ai-slop-petition?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us

*******************************************************************************************************

Calling Common an "actor" is quite a stretch, but glad to see this campaign.

[KT2000]

1. YouTube has duets

using big names that are obviously AI. I hope they all sue.

[highplainsdem]

2. Thanks, Coventina! GenAI is horribly exploitative and unethical, and no one should use it voluntarily,

or promote anything generated by AI, including by sharing it online. Some people are forced to use AI by their job or school, but they really should protest that as much as possible.

GenAI is harmful in many ways. The most harmful non-weapon tech ever developed.

[SheltieLover]

3. Absolutely!

[OC375]

4. Obsolescence

AI and automation are obviously going to take more humans out of the game than just IT folks and factory workers. Sucks when it's you, for sure.

5 years ago, my creative friends were all ribbing me about IT being a doomed field, while the uniqueness of their contributions and the humanity they brought to their devotions made them somewhat irreplaceable. Turns out, as with most things, most folks are fine with a fake, and if the price doesn't change, who cares?

Maybe Hollywood and Music have the $$$ and popular appeal to stop it? I doubt it. Ask the guys who use to make creature models for movies and build sets...

Biilly Joel needs to write another Allentown, but for AI job casualties.

I hope an AI is busy working on how to get us all of those cool 1970's post-scarcity cities of the future...