French creative organisations call for AI protections

Over 70 French creative organisations have collectively called upon the government to protect intellectual property from the threats becoming ever apparent stemming from generative artificial intelligence (AI).

In a joint statement addressed to French Prime Minister, Elizabeth Borne, the group urged an ethical approach to AI technology.

Some of the most notable signatories of the sizeable group include the National Federation of French Cinemas, directors’ guild SRF, producers’ guilds SPI, UPC, and ARP, authors’ rights organization SACD, and screenwriters union Guilde des Scénaristes.

In response

This action has been taken in response to the launch of France’s first-ever “Committee on Generative Artificial Intelligence” held in late September last year.

This committee examined the threats and opportunities posed by AI at the time.

In lieu of the results from this committee, the creative organisations are concerned that generative AI tools could potentially impact actors and writers’ jobs, revenue and even rights.

The demands

They are seeking transparency in how AI tools use content, for scraping and re-publication, aiming to ensure that authors, assignees and beneficiaries have insight into whether their works have been used and in what capacity.

The joint email stated:

“Our approach to you is as much a matter of urgency as of responsibility: the rapid development of AI tools calls for the adoption of a framework guaranteeing real transparency on the works and content used to train the machines.”

The objective is not to change or create new intellectual property rules but instead to enforce existing rights so that creators may share in the value generated by their works.

Coming legislation

At present the European Union is also working on continental AI legislation in the hopes of becoming the world’s first comprehensive legal framework for artificial intelligence.

This is now waiting to be voted upon by the European Parliament in June of next year.

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