Anti-AI campaign is launched by more than 700 Hollywood artists: “Stealing our work is not innovation”

“Stealing our jobs is not innovation.”

More than 700 Hollywood artistsincluding actors, creators, screenwriters and more, have united and raised their voices in a new anti-artificial intelligence campaign.

Actors of the caliber of Scarlett Johansson, Cate Blanchett, Joseph Gordon-Levittand hundreds more, they denounce technology companies what exploit protected works by copyright without permission.

As lawmakers weigh new regulations on AI training data, the campaign argues that “Stealing our work is not innovation. It is not progress. It is theft, plain and simple.”

For artists, the importance of fighting for authorship not only seeks protect their own interests, but also to American creative sector as a wholewhich covers cinema, television, music, publishing and digital media.

Said sector, according to the letter that accompanies the campaign, “Generates millions of jobs, drives economic growth and projects cultural power worldwide.” That ecosystem is threatened, as AI developers extract material from creative worksoften without authorization, compensation or transparency.

Artists are not against the use of artificial intelligence, only inappropriate use. The campaign opens the doors and urges companies to close content agreements or collaborations, as some have already done, respecting the rights of creators.

“There is a better way,” the statement states, arguing that Responsible licensing agreements can enable AI to advance. It is possible to have it all. “We can rely on advanced and rapidly developing AI and ensure respect for creators' rights.”

In 2025, Blanchett and Gordon-Levitt were among 400 Hollywood filmmakers, writers, actors, and musicians who signed an open letter to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, urging the administration not to roll back copyright protections at the behest of artificial intelligence companies.

Johansson, for her part, has been one of the artists who has spoken out most against the dangers posed by artificial intelligence, and her fight against the recreation of her image has been one of the best-known topics of AI. In November 2023, he took legal action against an AI app that used his name and image in an ad without permission. In early 2024, Johansson issued a press release harshly criticizing a viral video in which an AI version of herself, along with other celebrities, appears to protest Kanye West's anti-Semitic posts; later that year, she condemned OpenAI for using her voice from the film. Her (2013) by Spike Jonze, as inspiration for a GPT-4o chatbot called Sky.

You can read the full letter in Variety.