By Dan Milmo
Publication Date: 2026-03-10 06:00:00
Thousands of authors, including Kazuo Ishiguro, Philippa Gregory and Richard Osman, have published a “blank” book to protest the unauthorized use of their works by AI companies.
Approximately 10,000 authors have contributed to Don’t Steal This Book, the only content of which is a list of their names. Copies of the work will be distributed to visitors to the London Book Fair on Tuesday, a week before the British government is due to publish an assessment of the economic costs of proposed copyright changes.
Ministers have until March 18 to submit an economic impact assessment and a progress report on a consultation on the law overhaul, amid anger among creative professionals over how their work is being used by AI firms.
The book’s organizer, Ed Newton-Rex, a composer and artist copyright activist, said the AI industry was “built on stolen works taken without permission or payment.”
He added: “This is not a victimless crime –…