Its theft plain and simple: hundreds of artists including Scarlett Johansson have snapped and made an anti-AI campaign that says a better way exists

Date:
Sat, 24 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Description:
Hundreds of artists have signed a petition calling on AI firms to properly compensate creators for their work.

FULL STORY ======================================================================Hundreds
of artists have launched an anti-AI campaign They say AI is stealing their work and want licensing deals instead Signatories include Scarlett Johansson, Cyndi Lauper, and more

Among the many controversies surrounding the use of artificial intelligence (AI) , the way it trains its algorithms on artistic works without
compensation is among the most contentious. That dispute has now led to a campaign by actors, musicians, writers, and others to push back against the theft of their works by AI.

Dubbed Stealing Isnt Innovation, the campaigns website states that some of
the biggest tech companies are using American creators work to build AI platforms without authorization or regard for copyright law. The site continues: Its not progress. Its theft plain and simple.

Below the opening statements is a list of signatories containing hundreds of famous names, including singer Cyndi Lauper, rapper Common, actors Scarlett Johansson and Joseph Gordon Levitt, and more.

Instead of training AI algorithms on artists work without compensation, the signatories state that A better way exists. This would be through licensing deals and partnerships, they assert, which would provide AI companies with a responsible, ethical route to obtaining the content and materials they wish
to use. A major source of dispute (Image credit: Shutterstock/Ascannio)

The way AI firms have trained their tools on artistic content has remained a source of dispute for years, with several organizations taking action over claims that their work has been stolen and ingested by AIs without compensating the original creators. Now, it looks like many people have had enough.

Its interesting that the signatories desire is not for AI companies to cease using their work for training altogether. Instead, its to create an arrangement that allows the likes of OpenAI, Google, and others to continue using artistic works for their large language models, on a licensed basis where creators are presumably paid for their content.

This isnt the first time that artists have claimed that AI is taking their work without permission. A 2023 lawsuit alleged that AI outfits were
breaching copyright laws in training their products on created works, for example. Yet with Big Tech firms seemingly acting with impunity when it comes to copyrighted works, itll be interesting to see whether the latest campaign has an effect.

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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/ai-platforms-assistants/its-theft-plain-and-simple-h undreds-of-artists-including-scarlett-johansson-have-snapped-and-made-an-anti- ai-campaign-that-says-a-better-way-exists


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