Irish wolfhounds join writer’s protest

Irish wolfhounds have joined a protest by writers, who are protesting about what they describe as “any piracy” of their works being used by Meta’s AI model.

The protest at the Dáil and Government buildings in Dublin was led by the Irish Writers Union (IWU).

The union, which is coordinating a campaign with Irish publishers, screenwriters, and poets, is demanding that Meta “complies with Irish and EU copyright laws in the training of its AI model”.

Members say the protest follows “the revelations arising from a court case in the US, that Meta used millions of copyright-protected works in order to train its AI model, Llama 3”.

Audrey Magee, an award-winning author whose publications include The Colony and The Undertaking told BBC News NI she was shocked when she discovered that her works had been used for AI training.

The author said she’s concerned that her works have been accessed and “used in a way you have no control over”.

She also said the presence of Irish wolfhounds at the protest today was a powerful symbolic gesture because of their ancient links to Irish literature, poetry, mythology, and bards.

Other members of the Irish Writers Union who claim their works have been harvested for AI training purposes include Ruth O’Leary, author and The Weekend Break and Sam Blake, author of The Killing Sense.

The Chairman of the IWU, Conor McAnally said: “It is difficult enough to make a living as a writer without billionaires deciding it’s too inconvenient to pay for our work.

“The Irish Writers Union will robustly defend our members, and their right to fair compensation for any use of their work. We call on the Irish Government to support those writers whose work has been pirated and hold Meta to account.”

A petition, with 1500 signatures, has been presented to the Irish Department for Trade Promotion, Artificial Intelligence and Digital Transformation.

In a statement, Minister Niamh Smyth TD, said: “Given the rapid advancement of AI technologies, EU and Irish policies and legislation are adapting to address emerging challenges.”

The IWU is encouraging its members to make a formal, legal complaint to Meta demanding the immediate cessation of any use of their copyrighted material in the company’s AI training processes until appropriate permissions are obtained.

Members also want Meta to negotiate “fair and reasonable licensing terms” if it wants to use their work, as well as the offer of compensation for any past unauthorised use of their work in AI model training programmes.

An investigation by The Atlantic magazine, external revealed Meta may have accessed millions of pirated books and research papers through LibGen – Library Genesis – to train its generative AI (Gen-AI) system, Llama.

A spokesperson for Meta said: “We respect third-party intellectual property rights and believe our use of information to train AI models is consistent with existing law.”