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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
James Tapper

Put levy on smartphones to help creatives survive AI threat, top UK artists tell Labour

John Akomfrah places his hands in a praying gesture inside a red-walled room with old fashioned electrical equipment stuck to the ceiling
Sir John Akomfrah, Britain’s representative at this year’s Venice Biennale, is one of more than 4,000 signatories of the letter. Photograph: David Levene/The Guardian

More than 4,000 artists have called on the government to create a levy on smartphone sales to fund ­visual art in the face of cuts, studio closures and the rise of generative AI.

Creatives including Sir John Akomfrah, Britain’s representative at the Venice Biennale, and Dame Sonia Boyce, the first black woman elected to the Royal Academy of Arts, as well as film director and photographer Sam Taylor-Johnson and Turner prize ­nominee Heather Phillipson have signed an open letter to Lisa Nandy, the ­culture secretary.

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