‘It’s theft – plain and simple’: hundreds of artists including Scarlett Johansson have snapped and made an anti-AI campaign that says ‘a better way exists’

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‘It’s theft – plain and simple’: hundreds of artists including Scarlett Johansson have snapped and made an anti-AI campaign that says ‘a better way exists’ News By Alex Blake published 24 January 2026

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• Hundreds of artists have launched an anti-AI campaign
• They say AI is stealing their work and want licensing deals instead
• Signatories include Scarlett Johansson, Cyndi Lauper, and more

Among the many controversies surrounding the use of artificial intelligence (AI), the way it trains its algorithms on artistic works without compensation is among the most contentious. That dispute has now led to a campaign by actors, musicians, writers, and others to push back against the “theft” of their works by AI.

Dubbed “Stealing Isn’t Innovation,” the campaign’s website states that “some of the biggest tech companies … are using American creators’ work to build AI platforms without authorization or regard for copyright law.” The site continues: “It’s not progress. It’s theft – plain and simple.”

Below the opening statements is a list of signatories containing hundreds of famous names, including singer Cyndi Lauper, rapper Common, actors Scarlett Johansson and Joseph Gordon Levitt, and more.

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Instead of training AI algorithms on artists’ work without compensation, the signatories state that “A better way exists.” This would be through “licensing deals and partnerships,” they assert, which would provide AI companies with a “responsible, ethical route to obtaining the content and materials they wish to use.”

A major source of dispute

(Image credit: Shutterstock/Ascannio)

The way AI firms have trained their tools on artistic content has remained a source of dispute for years, with several organizations taking action over claims that their work has been stolen and ingested by AIs without compensating the original creators. Now, it looks like many people have had enough.

It’s interesting that the signatories’ desire is not for AI companies to cease using their work for training altogether. Instead, it’s to create an arrangement that allows the likes of OpenAI, Google, and others to continue using artistic works for their large language models, on a licensed basis where creators are presumably paid for their content.

This isn’t the first time that artists have claimed that AI is taking their work without permission. A 2023 lawsuit alleged that AI outfits were breaching copyright laws in training their products on created works, for example. Yet with Big Tech firms seemingly acting with impunity when it comes to copyrighted works, it’ll be interesting to see whether the latest campaign has an effect.

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TOPICS AI Alex BlakeSocial Links NavigationFreelance Contributor

Alex Blake has been fooling around with computers since the early 1990s, and since that time he's learned a thing or two about tech. No more than two things, though. That's all his brain can hold. As well as TechRadar, Alex writes for iMore, Digital Trends and Creative Bloq, among others. He was previously commissioning editor at MacFormat magazine. That means he mostly covers the world of Apple and its latest products, but also Windows, computer peripherals, mobile apps, and much more beyond. When not writing, you can find him hiking the English countryside and gaming on his PC.

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