Some 800 artists have signed an open letter accusing technology companies of "theft" of copyrighted work to train their artificial intelligence (AI) models.
Writers, musicians, and actors—including Scarlett Johansson, Cate Blanchett, the band R.E.M., and Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan—are among the signatories of the open letter from the Human Artistry Campaign's Stealing Isn't Innovation movement.
The letter demands that companies engage in "ethical" partnerships rather than "stealing."
AI companies are facing multiple copyright lawsuits brought by artists and their representatives over the unauthorised use of copyrighted works to train AI models—with mixed results in the cases heard or settled so far.
"America's creative community is the envy of the world and creates jobs, economic growth, and exports," the open letter reads.
"But rather than respect and protect this valuable asset, some of the biggest tech companies, many backed by private equity and other funders, are using American creators' work to build AI platforms without authorisation or regard for copyright law."
There are around 60 ongoing lawsuits in the US where creators and rightsholders are suing AI companies. Similar cases are also underway in Europe.
AI companies train their models by feeding vast amounts of data—including text, images, music, and video—into their systems. These models learn patterns from this data to generate new content.
But much of this training material is scraped from the internet without permission from copyright holders, including books, articles, artwork, photographs, and music. Companies argue this practice falls under "fair use," while artists contend it's unauthorised copying that undermines their livelihoods and intellectual property rights.
In 2024, OpenAI faced backlash from Scarlett Johansson after its Advanced Voice feature sounded similar to the actor's voice in the 2013 film "Her." Legal representatives for Johansson sent OpenAI letters claiming the company did not have the right to use a voice resembling hers. OpenAI subsequently paused the "Sky" voice.
