TUC Launches AI for Creative Workers Manifesto to Protect UK Music and Creative Industries

The TUC’s new Artificial Intelligence for Creative Workers Manifesto calls for an opt in for data mining and AI training, the right to remove content from training datasets, fair contracts, and increased intellectual property rights to protect creative workers in the development of AI models.

The TUC, which represents over six million workers in every sector of the UK economy, is also calling for a new likeness right to protect everyone from deep fakes and other instances of their image being used without consent.

The manifesto was covered by the Guardian, The i, Daily Telegraph, Daily Mail, Morning Star and Talk RADIO.

AI is a trade union issue

Proposals aim to ensure that AI benefits everyone, and are firmly rooted in trade union values including:

• Transparency – companies should provide clear information about how technology operates and data it is trained on, in order to enable informed consent and prevent misinformation
• Human creativity – human creativity has inherent value and should be safeguarded, with human input essential for quality, authenticity and the emotional resonance of creative work
• Rights protection – the development and deployment of AI technology should respect, preserve and support both workers’ and intellectual property rights
• Consent – people should be able to decide how they engage with AI and withdraw consent.

Introducing the manifesto, TUC General Secretary Paul Nowak said: “The creative and education sectors are vital to the UK’s economy, social cohesion and cultural identity. Creative workers are key contributors to AI development but face economic vulnerability if their rights are not protected. The rapid development of AI technology requires a response which centres the rights and interests of creative workers.”

Ask your MP to protect your rights

Email your MP asking them to help ensure creators are fairly protected from generative AI training.