TUC publishes AI manifesto
Calls for greater transparency from technology companies, respect for the value of human creativity and consent over the use of works all feature.
The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) has welcomed publication of the Trades Union Congress’ manifesto outlining proposals for addressing the impact of artificial intelligence on creative work and workers.
Engagement with unions including the NUJ, informed the creation of the manifesto. Among its calls are the need for transparent labelling of machine generated outputs, an opt-in process where informed consent has been provided and for the right to have content removed from training datasets.
The NUJ has stressed AI developers must be mandated to disclose the sources of their training data allowing journalists knowledge of what information has been collected and how.
The union welcomes additional manifesto proposals including:
- Preserved and increased intellectual property rights: government should confirm and uphold the principle that data mining for AI training without consent is an infringement of intellectual property rights and increase protection for creative workers in response to the new technology.
Paul Nowak, TUC general secretary, said:
“AI has huge transformative potential – and if regulated properly, workers could benefit from the productivity gains created by this technology.
“UK law is simply failing to keep pace with the rapid speed of technological change and proliferation of AI at work.
“Writers, actors, performers, teachers, journalists and other creatives must have a say over how their work and image is used, and they must be paid fairly.
“A new taskforce should be established, bringing together creative workers, unions, technologists and government to manage the risks and maximise the opportunities of AI.
“The government should change direction on current proposals and go further to protect creative workers and safeguard the future of the creative industries. The sector is a jewel in the crown of our economy and vital for growth.
“The clock is ticking. Without proper guardrails put in place, rapacious tech bosses will continue to cash in on creatives’ work without their consent.”
Read more on the manifesto.