Overview
- Copies of Don't Steal This Book, blank except for nearly 10,000 contributors, were distributed to highlight AI firms using copyrighted works without permission or payment.
- Signatories include Richard Osman, Kazuo Ishiguro, Jeanette Winterson, Malorie Blackman, Jacqueline Wilson, Philippa Gregory and Mick Herron.
- Ministers are required to publish an economic impact assessment and update parliament by March 18 following a consultation that drew about 11,500 responses.
- The campaign’s back cover message urges the government not to “legalise book theft,” as organiser Ed Newton-Rex argues generative AI exploits writers’ work and threatens livelihoods.
- In a parallel move at the fair, the Society of Authors launched a “Human Authored” label to identify non‑AI books, while an Oliver & Ohlbaum review challenged tech-backed claims that diluting copyright would boost growth.