Anna Dickens
A drama, worthy of an AI-model’s scraping, has been playing out over the UK government’s Data (Use and Access) Bill, which has been ping ponging between the House of Commons and the House of Lords.
The contended issue is mundane – it’s about opting in or opting out. The government wants tech companies to freely train their AI models on copyrighted material unless the creatives or companies holding the rights opt out.
The star-studded opposition includes Elton John, Paul McCartney, Annie Lennox, and Dua Lipa arguing that copyrighted material should only be scraped if the owner opts in to allow this.
Despite their celebrity power, they are only playing a supporting role to the main character, Baroness Kidron, director of ‘Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason’ and proposer of the opt in amendment that has become a thorn in the government’s side.
She has ignited a spark in the House of Lords that has resulted in some of the most entertaining speeches the chamber has seen in some time, including a story about the late character actress, Claire Davenport, rubbing a royalty cheque across her ample “talent”.
While the ending to the story is yet unwritten, it’s hard not to ask: is it all just theatre?
The horse has bolted. The ship has sailed. Everything published – from the melody of Rocket Man to your company’s annual report – has been scraped and is training up the machines. You can opt out now, but the theft has already happened.
Baroness Kidron counters this argument by saying opt in is on behalf of the future artists and future creative work. That’s valid, but the entire debate feels less about a policy change that will make a substantial impact and more like a proxy for the existential dread felt by those working in the creative economy.
No one likes change and the anxiety is understandable, but this isn’t the end of human creativity. It might just be the next jumping off point.
AI isn’t creative by nature. It mimics and rearranges to produce the content it thinks we want. The result is often homogenised, hyper-perfected and uninspiring. Given the volumes it’s spitting out, and the fact it will continue to re-train itself on this content, the kitsch is likely to continue.
Many years ago, I studied fine art. My painting professor taught me an important principle of creativity and a life lesson: learn to look without presumption.
Say I want to paint an apple. I have seen apples before, I know what they look like. That knowledge will impede me. By training myself to look without presumption, I can avoid assumptions and capture the particularity of how the apple in front of me is interacting in light and space and – through some creative magic that I still can’t fully explain – my contemplation of the object gets communicated in the image.
AI is presumption on an industrial scale. What makes art and human expression truly unique and compelling is – thankfully – still a form of sorcery only humans possess.
Craftspeople and artists throughout history have faced these issues before. Calligraphers probably saw lucrative jobs drying up thanks to Gutenberg’s printing press. The invention of photography threw visual artists into crisis but ended up freeing them from representationalism and contributed to the birth of the modern art movement.
Disruption isn’t always a bad thing, and it certainly feels like we are in the midst of a defining shift in our human history. Soon, we may get to witness entirely new forms of art and creative expression, aided and enhanced by AI tools.
While there is a lot to be excited about, the economic outlook for the creative industries as they currently stand is a concern. While it may be hard to see how much or little opting in or out will matter, it has sparked an important debate.
I asked the AI tool I’m currently experimenting with, Clive AI, what the future holds for people who earn a living through the creative economy. It told me, ‘The reality is more nuanced than “AI taking all creative work”.’
Wise words, likely scraped from someone who isn’t getting the credit.
If you want to chat about this further, get in touch – anna.dickens@charlottestreetpartners.com