If there's ever a post of mine that you share, make it this one The UK government is considering allowing copyright exceptions for AI training. Below is a letter I sent to my MP explaining why this is a terrible idea, along with instructions on how to forward it to your own MP justpaste.it/fpyt5 - ThreadSky

jakeillustrates.bsky.social • 70 days ago

If there's ever a post of mine that you share, make it this one

The UK government is considering allowing copyright exceptions for AI training. Below is a letter I sent to my MP explaining why this is a terrible idea, along with instructions on how to forward it to your own MP

https://justpaste.it/fpyt5

Comments

tricksyspirit.bsky.social•67 days ago

Thanks for this 📌

jakeillustrates.bsky.social•67 days ago

You're welcome, there are some more great resources here:

https://bsky.app/profile/ednewtonrex.bsky.social/post/3ldjhfestis2s

neoriceisgood.bsky.social•69 days ago

jfc.

whatsupgazpacho.bsky.social•64 days ago

I just sent my email
It's a little too late as others have likely already sent their emails, but when emailing an MP it is important to include your name and address so they can verify that you are a constituent.
MP's offices often don't log emails from non-constituents or put them at a low priority

whatsupgazpacho.bsky.social•64 days ago

So it would be good to put that at the end of your template

Thanks

jakeillustrates.bsky.social•64 days ago

Thanks for taking the time to send the email! What you mentioned about including your personal info is in the instructions already, point number 5 : )

You might also be interested in this updated guide which includes a few other important things you can do to help: https://bsky.app/profile/jakeillustrates.bsky.social/post/3ldqfd6jg4s2a

whatsupgazpacho.bsky.social•64 days ago

Oh good 😊
I skipped through a lot of it so I'm glad the but about adding your address is in there 👍

digitalquack.bsky.social•68 days ago

Thanks for this. Especially helpful as it seems my MP is part of the Dept for Culture, Media and Sport.

Sent your template with a few little edits to include references to news articles regarding AI job losses and X's Grok falling foul of Irish GDPR. Now I just hope they read and take it seriously.

jakeillustrates.bsky.social•68 days ago

That's fantastic, thanks for taking the time to not only send the email but also to add to it

just-a-husk.bsky.social•69 days ago

I'm curious as to how this could possibly work, at all. This is a UK law, so it does not apply to non-UK artists, but how can a bot scraping the internet for art to steal know if said artist lives in the UK?

If they pass this, the UK could possibly be violating INTERNATIONAL copyright law.

james.claims•69 days ago

Thank you for this! 📌

jakeillustrates.bsky.social•69 days ago

You're welcome!

teresasm.bsky.social•69 days ago

@kortizart.bsky.social this is a useful starting point for UK artists who want to write to their MP about AI, much easier than coming up with a whole message from scratch and there's useful info to modify (read it, don't just copy paste, particularly if your MP is not Labour).

teresasm.bsky.social•69 days ago

Thank you, doing it now.

jakeillustrates.bsky.social•69 days ago

You're welcome! Thanks so much for chipping in : )

lanterns.rockett.space•69 days ago

Sent! Thanks for the heads up and help. Hopefully it reaches an open mind.

jakeillustrates.bsky.social•69 days ago

You're welcome! And thank you for sending it : ) we've got to speak up to be heard

raviavee.bsky.social•69 days ago

Completely unacceptable, I wanted to expand my stuff here in UK and THIS happened!?

jakeillustrates.bsky.social•69 days ago

Nothing is set in stone yet, that's why it's important for us to speak out against it

plinkdoesstuff.bsky.social•68 days ago

Done - thank you so much for the template letter, I had no idea what to write, and this was so helpful.

jakeillustrates.bsky.social•68 days ago

You're welcome! Thanks for taking the time to send it : )

glynh.bsky.social•69 days ago

Sent! Thank you for taking the time to not only write this but, to make it so much easier for anyone else to weigh in and take action.

jakeillustrates.bsky.social•69 days ago

You're welcome! Thank you for helping out and sending it! : ) this has performed so much better than I hoped

bee-moh.bsky.social•66 days ago

Filled in the consulation, will do the letter soon.

jakeillustrates.bsky.social•66 days ago

Fantastic, thanks for chipping in!

I haven't had a chance to look at the consultation yet. The amount of questions is intimidating. But I'm planning on making my answers public once I've done it to help other people who are a bit put off by it.

glorylocks.bsky.social•67 days ago

Thank you ❤️

zenzuke.bsky.social•69 days ago

They're doing it in Spain too, it's a concerted effort.

kisanowastaken.bsky.social•67 days ago

You’re telling me, that they are willing to make it more and more difficult to keep and back up the games I LEGALLY bought and own, but they’re more than happy to allow AI to train of me?

jakeillustrates.bsky.social•67 days ago

Unfortunately that's exactly what I'm telling you

"Rules for thee, but not for me"

ipfreely123.bsky.social•69 days ago

Copyright applies solely to the work itself, not its method of production, and the UK government is NOT considering an exception that would allow AI works to infringe upon copyright.

pugsteady.com•69 days ago

Do you have a shareable source for this? I want to make sure it's brought before the Writers' Guild of Great Britain. I'll also write to my MP. Thank you!

jakeillustrates.bsky.social•69 days ago

First couple paragraphs here:
https://www.politico.eu/article/uk-celebrities-protection-artificial-intelligence-clones/
And this:
https://bsky.app/profile/ednewtonrex.bsky.social/post/3ld7ipk6ddc2o

It seems to me they're offering likeness protections and opt-out as a way to justify a wider copyright exception for training. But opt-out doesn't work as I outlined in my email.

pugsteady.com•69 days ago

Thank you!

sharkabytes.bsky.social•68 days ago

Jeez, thank you for the heads-up on this and the template. Will be doing the same with mine.

jakeillustrates.bsky.social•68 days ago

Thank you, appreciate everyone who's chipped in their time to share this and send an email, it's performed way better than I ever expected

furociousarts.bsky.social•68 days ago

You're kidding. The UK is actually considering this??? If so, I'm just going traditional until I move countries.

doodaad.com•69 days ago

Thank you for writing this, I've sent an email to my MP!

jakeillustrates.bsky.social•69 days ago

That's amazing! Thanks for letting me know : )

big-bee.bsky.social•69 days ago

wwwwWHAT???? WHY???

doiredoire.bsky.social•69 days ago

Because Tony Blair has found a new religion. And, once again, this one will solve everything if you just have faith.

big-bee.bsky.social•68 days ago

im not particularly eager to cheer for legalized mass art-theft and plagarism. id prefer if big companies *didnt* get to scrape everyones' stuff without the affected people's consent in order to turn a profit.

jakeillustrates.bsky.social•69 days ago

Because money. I also think it's because tech companies have gotten into their ears first and so our government officials are essentially being conned. That's why we've gotta make some noise.

youngbenkenobi.bsky.social•69 days ago

Read it, edited it and sent it (had to make edits because my MP is Lib Dem). Cheers for making this, it’s been super useful

jakeillustrates.bsky.social•69 days ago

You're very welcome, thanks for taking the time to read through and send it off!

lavendercourage.bsky.social•69 days ago

📌

jakeillustrates.bsky.social•65 days ago

UPDATE: I've created an extensive guide on everything people can do to oppose this, including answers to the (intentionally confusing) form questions and template letters. If the above post crosses your path, consider sharing the one below too.

https://bsky.app/profile/jakeillustrates.bsky.social/post/3ldqfd6jg4s2a

paracosmcomics.bsky.social•66 days ago

Done and shared! ✅

jakeillustrates.bsky.social•66 days ago

Thank you!

jessykosis.bsky.social•69 days ago

Is this something that's worth creating a petition on the UK Parliament website for? Looks like there's currently nothing regarding AI regulation on there.

tailsandtea.bsky.social•11 days ago

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/713888/sponsors/new?token=ycNGgDnAwaXdCakDwAsP

zaratustra.bsky.social•69 days ago

you can try, but there has literally never been a uk parliament petition that caused any legislatory change

patter.bsky.social•69 days ago

if you need to find your MP: https://www.theyworkforyou.com

smeg.bsky.social•68 days ago

What rationale do they give for "infringement is bad, unless performed on a massive scale?"

valeoffeathers.bsky.social•69 days ago

Oh FFS, as if this place hasn't stabbed itself in the foot enough

timkongart.bsky.social•68 days ago

Are they serious?! Do they really want that AI pie so bad to not be left behind? How short sighted.

dragonessa.bsky.social•67 days ago

I wrote my own letter using your information and sources and sent it to my local MP. Thank you for this.

jakeillustrates.bsky.social•67 days ago

Happy to help, thank you for taking the time to make it your own - I think that will be more impactful

melhadf.shite.name•69 days ago

I'm meeting my MP again this week, so I'll be asking in person as well as writing afterwards.

jakeillustrates.bsky.social•69 days ago

I'd love to know how your meeting with them goes if you're willing to share

melhadf.shite.name•69 days ago

Of course. I'm meeting him Friday Morning and will be bringing up the extended puberty blocker ban and this.

logicfairy.bsky.social•69 days ago

https://x.com/louiswhunt/status/1868026490300014947 Stumbled across this, thought you'd like to see

jakeillustrates.bsky.social•69 days ago

That's a fantastic read, I'll dig through the documents he links a little later on, thanks for sharing : ) I might try reaching out too

bandziormabana.bsky.social•67 days ago

Sent!

jakeillustrates.bsky.social•67 days ago

Amazing! Thanks for taking the time to chip in : )

blackjackgabbiani.bsky.social•69 days ago

What can people outside the UK do?

jakeillustrates.bsky.social•69 days ago

Share, share and share some more. The more eyes that are on this, the more UK eyes will see it too.

This is bigger than me, I don't care about credit, feel free to post the letter anywhere you want.