Author Philip Pullman Denounces AI Scraping as ‘Wicked,’ Demands Government Action

Acclaimed British author Philip Pullman, best known for the "His Dark Materials" trilogy, has issued a powerful condemnation of the practice of "scraping" creative works to train artificial intelligence models, labeling it "wicked" and calling for urgent government intervention to protect authors' rights. 📚

Pullman, a long-standing advocate for creators' rights and President of the Society of Authors, expressed his outrage at the widespread, unauthorized use of copyrighted books, articles, and other written materials by AI companies. These companies use vast amounts of text scraped from the internet, often without permission or compensation, to train their large language models (LLMs).

"Theft on an Industrial Scale" 😠
In recent statements and interviews, Pullman has not minced words, characterizing the practice as a form of mass intellectual property theft that threatens the livelihoods of writers everywhere.

"It is theft, plain and simple, theft on an industrial scale," Pullman reportedly stated. "To see our work, which often represents years of effort, creativity, and personal investment, simply vacuumed up without permission to build a commercial product is wicked. It shows a profound lack of respect for the creative process and the people who undertake it."

He argues that AI models generate outputs that are fundamentally derived from the patterns, styles, and information contained within the works they were trained on. Therefore, the creators of those original works deserve to be acknowledged and compensated.

A Call for Government Intervention 🏛️
Pullman is urging the UK government, and governments worldwide, to step in and regulate the AI industry to protect copyright holders. He and the Society of Authors are demanding:

Transparency: AI companies must be required to disclose the datasets they use for training their models.

Consent: Creators must have the right to grant or refuse permission for their work to be used in AI training.

Compensation: Fair licensing frameworks must be established to ensure authors are paid when their work contributes to the development and commercial success of AI models.

"Governments cannot stand idly by while a new industry is built on the wholesale appropriation of existing creative work," Pullman emphasized. "We need clear rules and robust enforcement to ensure that technology serves humanity, including the artists and writers who enrich our culture, rather than undermining them."

Pullman's impassioned plea adds significant weight to the growing global chorus of authors, artists, and musicians demanding that the AI industry respect intellectual property rights as it continues its rapid expansion. The battle lines are being drawn between the creators of original content and the developers of the powerful new tools that learn from it.