Artists demand stronger protection from AI

Members of six Quebec unions representing thousands of artists and technicians are demanding action to regulate artificial intelligence in arts and culture.

Six Quebec unions representing over 25,000 artists, craftspeople, and technicians in the audiovisual and music industries say their members’ voices and images are being used to train generative artificial intelligence (AI) systems without their permission.

Tania Kontoyanni, president of the Union des artists (UDA), said her members are not being compensated for their work.

“Big companies are telling us ‘You know what, you artists, I’ll take this work. I’ll make a great deal of money out of it. You won’t even notice, but I’m not going pay for that.’ So it’s kind of absurd what we are accepting right now,” she said.

Now, the unions are demanding action to regulate AI in the arts and culture. They presented a “Manifesto for the protection of authentic creation,” which requires authorization from artists when their work is used in AI-generated content and to be compensated accordingly.

They are also calling for more transparency, including notifying audiences when AI has been used in a production.

“You want them to recognize our copyrights, our royalties because artists, that’s how they make a living out of their work,” Kontoyanni said.

The unions are urging the federal and provincial governments to intervene and regulate AI in arts and culture.

Quebec Culture and Communications Minister Mathieu Lacombe said the National Assembly will continue discussions in the fall, adding that artists’ rights must be protected.