Artificial Intelligence for Creative Workers: A TUC Manifesto

The Trades Union Congress (TUC) has published a manifesto addressing the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on creative workers (see Artificial Intelligence for Creative Workers: A TUC Manifesto). The manifesto outlines the values and proposals necessary to ensure that AI benefits all workers, particularly those in the creative and education sectors. The TUC advocates for the interests of all workers who generate intellectual property or use their likeness while at work, including writers, performers, and educators.

Values

The manifesto emphasises several key values so that the technology benefits all:

• Transparency: Technology companies should provide clear information about how AI operates and the data it is trained on to ensure informed consent and prevent misinformation.
   
• Consent and Agency: Individuals should have the ability to decide how they engage with AI technology and be able to withdraw consent.
   
• Human Creativity and Connection: The inherent value of human creativity should be safeguarded, and human input is essential for the quality and authenticity of creative work.
   
• Rights Protection and Preservation: The development and deployment of AI should respect and support workers' rights and intellectual property rights.
   
• Benefit-Sharing, Compensation, and Remuneration: The gains from AI technology should be shared fairly with workers to ensure they are compensated and can continue to contribute.
   
• Technology 'For-and-By' Creative Workers: AI should be designed with creative workers to meet their needs.
   
• Training and Skills Development: Digital literacy and traditional skills training are essential for safe and effective technology use.
   
• Consultation and Collective Representation: Creative workers and unions should be involved in technology design and deployment decisions.
   
• Collaboration: Increased collaboration between technology stakeholders and creative workers is needed.
   
• Equality, Inclusion, and Cultural Diversity: AI technology should uphold equality, inclusion, and cultural diversity, avoiding content homogenisation.

Proposals

To implement these values, the TUC proposes several measures. First, it proposes that machine-generated outputs should be clearly labelled, and that permission should be required for using human-generated materials in AI training. Second that workers should have the right to remove their content from training datasets, and safeguards should be in place to prevent unfair contractual terms. Third, that intellectual property rights should be upheld and protections increased, while new rights should protect against unauthorised use of likenesses.

The TUC also calls for: (i) the establishment of licensing and compensation mechanisms for data mining and AI training, ensuring workers are credited for their contributions (ii) Transparency from technology companies about their operations and data sources is crucial, along with accessible legal enforcement backed by strong sanctions (iii) International collaboration to prevent regulatory disparities and calls for the creation of an independent body to oversee AI deployment. Finally, it highlights the need for sector-specific AI training and support to help creative workers navigate the evolving technological landscape.

If you would like to discuss how current or future regulations impact what you do with AI, please contact Tom Whittaker, Brian Wong, Lucy Pegler, Martin Cook, Liz Smith or any other member in our Technology team.

This article was written by Alice Gillie.
 

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