TED Tech How AI models steal creative work — and what to do about it | Ed Newton-Rex
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May 30, 2025 
In this engaging discussion, Ed Newton-Rex, founder of Fairly Trained, dives into the ethical pitfalls of generative AI and its impact on creative professionals. He reveals how companies use unlicensed creative work for training AI, undermining artists' rights. Ed advocates for a system of licensing that balances respect for creators with technological innovation. He also highlights alarming statistics, such as a 33% income drop reported by artists due to AI imitations, stressing the urgent need for updated copyright laws to better protect creative contributions.
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AI's Key Resources and Issues
- Generative AI relies heavily on three key resources: people, compute, and data.
- While companies pay for engineering and compute, they often use unlicensed creative data, which is unfair and unsustainable.
AI Competes With Creators' Work
- Generative AI models compete directly with the creative work they trained on.
- This competition adversely impacts creators' livelihoods as AI output serves as a cheap alternative.
Artist's Income Cut by AI Training
- Artist Kelly McKernan's income dropped by 33% after their work was used to train an AI model.
- Many illustrators similarly suffer due to AI models trained on their work without permission.