Youâre a writer.
You are, or you wouldnât be here reading this.
So I have a question for you today: how do you feel about big tech AI companies stealing your work?
Not good, right?
If youâre in the UK, please read on â then take action.
We have just four more days to respond to the government consultation on their proposed law to allow AI companies to do what they want.
Right now, AI companies have to obtain permission from copyright holders before they use our work. But the government is proposing to overturn these copyright laws, which protects us and our ability to earn a living from our work.
The proposal is that instead of AI companies asking each creative for permission, instead each of us has to somehow discover every single tech company that has decided to feed our work to the algorithm and opt out AFTER the fact.
The very idea of that feels absolutely overwhelming. I wouldnât even know where to start, and doing it would be a full time job. Itâs essentially unworkable.
And once the AI has already been trained on our work? Well, that horse has bolted. What are they going to do then â trash their AIs?
The onus should be on AI companies to get permission for stuff they want to use.
THE SAME WAY WE DO WHEN WE QUOTE OTHER PEOPLEâS WORK OR OTHERWISE WANT TO USE IT.
The government should be protecting our rights and promoting human-centred creation, instead of taking backhanders from billionaire tech industry leaders in exchange for political favours.
Because make no mistake, that is what this is.
This isnât just about AI and creativity.
This is about a much larger issue of money in politics: how itâs used, how power is wielded, and who benefits.
The situation in America right now, with essentially a fascist dictator in charge and a bunch of billionaires standing behind him, is the end-game of this. Thatâs why weâre there. Thatâs why the Doomsday Clock has ticked down to 89 seconds to midnight.
This isnât trivial and it isnât an overreaction, itâs insidious and itâs creeping fascism. There are voices out there telling us weâre overreacting, the same way they did when Roe v Wade was in danger of being overturned. We werenât overreacting. Weâre still not.
If youâre wondering why you havenât heard about this from âofficialâ news sources, thatâs by design. They donât want us to know or do anything. And theyâve made it deliberately difficult to respond to the consultation.
So. What can we do?
Because I am not a fan of âraising awarenessâ just for the sake of being aware and overwhelmed. Fuck that.
Here is exactly what you can do:
- âRead about it here in more detail.
- âEmail your MP using this link and template letter. Itâll take you 30 seconds.
- Sign the open letter objecting to the proposed law change here.
- âRespond to the consultation using answers prepared by experts in this area (the consultation was deliberately confusing and difficult to respond to, but this makes it easy).
If you have 15 minutes in the next few days â before Tuesday February 25 â you have time to do these things. Please do because it does make a difference.
Iâve done it because I want to protect my work and the work of my brilliant clients, friends, colleagues, and peers.
Okay. Onwards to the Friday Goodie Bag, which is filled with my intellectual property, and other peopleâs intellectual property, and should be protected.
This Friday, I have gathered for you the following sweet treats:
My brilliant friendâs new podcast MAD
Jocelyn Brady, my brilliant brain-bending storytelling friend, has teamed up with Sean Anthony Guillory, PhD and expert in modern warfare (seriously there are things he canât talk about), to create the MAD podcast: Mutually Assured Distraction.
I can think of few things more important right now than where our attention is being direction, by whom, how, and why. Warfare isnât what it used to be, and weâre all in it. You can listen to the first episode here.
This OnlyFans star who took her earnings and made the world better
The patriarchy loves adult entertainment when itâs for the male gaze only. But what about when a woman takes her ÂŁ100k a month OnlyFans earnings, which she started doing to literally feed her kids, and pours it into affordable housing for her area?
Well, people who otherwise were at risk of homelessness get housed, and a lot of mediocre white dudes get angry.
John Amaechi OBE on why âwokeâ isnât the problem
Amaechi wrote a great piece about the Financial Timesâ analysis of âwhere woke went wrongâ â and how it (unsurprisingly) misses a crucial point:
âWhatâs often framed as mere political polarisation actually represents a fundamental disagreement about human rights and dignity.â
Those of us who have been paying attention understand this. Words matter: how theyâre used, misused, and twisted. How theyâre weaponised in order to hide the real issue.
This Instagram thread of womany joy
Someone on TikTok asked girlies what their whimsical little habits are, little things that bring them joy or make their world a little better, and someone else compiled a load of their answers, and itâs just one of the nicest things Iâve seen for a while.
One of my faves, and one I shall implement because the way I talk to myself is horrific, is: âIf I want to have negative thoughts about myself I have to think them in a Cockney accent.â
âRead it here and smile and smile. Then please share your whimsical little habits with me.
This satire on the current state of things because satire is crucial
One of the best weapons against fascism is humour because if thereâs one thing fascist billionaires hate, itâs people laughing at them. And even more, people who are more intelligent than them.
So support your comedians, your artists, your writers, because thatâs where the revolution lives.
Also itâs funny. Check this.
What Iâm reading
Iâm currently reading The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler, which I have never read before. Iâve never read any film noir detective type stuff. I wasnât sure what to expect, but Iâm enjoying it! Itâs very of its time (dated in places of course, being from the 1930s), but it also feels quite ahead of its time in terms of wit and some of the attitudes.
Plot? A bit baffling tbh. It kind of finishes, then starts up again.
But the writing is wonderful.
What Iâm writing
Every morning, for at least 10 minutes, Iâm doing a creative writing exercise from the comedy writing course Iâm taking part in. Iâve already generated so much content for future stand-up shows, for talks, for emails, for essays.
Hereâs one for you, for free, courtesy of my teacher Logan Murray:
The Social Sociopath: take an inane small talk phrase and subvert it.
Something like: We must do this again sometime. Just not together.
Have fun!
Word of the week
Cerulean.
Itâs the colour of the blue, blue sky and the blue, blue sea. And itâs just a lovely word to have in your mouth.
Quote of the week
âHow to stop time: kiss. How to travel in time: read. How to escape time: music. How to feel time: write. How to release time: breathe.â â Matt Haig
Have a wonderful weekend. And remember to fight the governmentâs AI proposal. It will take you less than 30 minutes.
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