When 10,000 authors want to make a point, sometimes the loudest statement is silence. Don't Steal This Book — a volume whose pages contain nothing but a list of names — arrived at the London Book Fair this week as a stark protest against AI companies training their models on writers' work without permission or payment.
When 10,000 authors want to make a point, sometimes the loudest statement is silence. That's the thinking behind Don't Steal This Book — a volume whose pages contain nothing but a list of names. Among them: Nobel laureate Kazuo Ishiguro, bestselling historian David Olusoga, and crime writer Richard Osman. Distributed at the London Book Fair this week, the empty book is a pointed protest against AI companies training their models on writers' work without permission or payment.
The project was organised by Ed Newton-Rex, a composer and prominent advocate for artists' rights, who argues that the AI industry has been built on a foundation of theft. Generative AI, he contends, doesn't just borrow from creative work — it actively competes with the people who created it, undermining their livelihoods in the process. The message on the book's back cover is blunt: the UK government must not legalise book theft to benefit AI companies.
The protest arrives at a critical moment. By 18 March, ministers must publish both an economic impact assessment and a progress update on a major copyright consultation — one that has ignited fury across the creative industries. The government's leading proposal would allow AI firms to use copyright-protected material without the owner's consent, unless creators explicitly opt out. For many, that gets things precisely backwards. "It is not in any way unreasonable to expect AI companies to pay for the use of authors' books," said Malorie Blackman, author of Noughts and Crosses.
The stakes couldn't be higher. Last year, Anthropic agreed to a $1.5 billion settlement with authors who alleged their works had been used without permission to train its AI. Similar lawsuits are playing out across the Atlantic. Meanwhile, publishers are launching their own response at the fair: a collective licensing scheme designed to give AI firms legal access to published works — on terms that actually compensate creators.
Elton John called the government's proposals the work of "absolute losers." Ten thousand writers chose a quieter form of defiance — an empty book that says everything.
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