Concept Art Association (CAA) https://www.conceptartassociation.com/about
continues to be on the front lines of this vital fight. Raising awareness. Pushing for accountability. Protecting creative rights for all of us. The artists are the canaries in the coal mine. We need to heed the warnings. Last year, this fundraising effort helped get artists to the US Senate to testify. Raising awareness at national and local levels is vital... and expensive.
Here are some excerpts from the CAA year 2 Go Fund Me campaign.
"We
cannot believe how quickly this year has gone and we are getting close to our
one-year anniversary of launching this GoFundMe. The support you have all shown
to get us here and have continued to show us is incredible. With that said
let's get going on year two!
We
have learned a lot in the last 9 months and have a good idea of where your
money is best spent, and where we perhaps need a little more or a little less.
When we did our budget for year one we wanted to be very transparent and very
thoughtful with our spending and we intend to continue this transparency and
thoughtfulness for year two. But before we share with you our year two budget
we thought this would be a good opportunity to share with you the highlights of
what we have been able to achieve together as a result of this gofundme
campaign:
1.
In March we hosted a one-day virtual event bringing together creators of all
types from around the world to discuss generative AI and what it means for
their industries and how we could find ways of uniting and working together.
2.
Concept Art Association (CAA) jumped into the Washington, DC landscape
immediately by joining forces with fellow intellectual property organizations.
CAA became a member of the Copyright Alliance (https://copyrightalliance.org/)
as well as the Digital Creators Coalition
(https://www.digitalcreatorscoalition.org/). In addition, due to relationships,
CAA was included early in the formation of the Human Artistry Campaign
(https://www.humanartistrycampaign.com/). As such, CAA’s lobbyist was able to
suggest the inclusion of “creators” into the seven principles of the Human
Artistry Campaign and thus, then become an early member. CAA is now the first
organization to be co-hosting an event with HAC of their 140-plus members on
the Hill next month.
3.
CAA’s lobbyist was asked to join other creator groups such as the Authors
Guild, theSongwriters
Guild, Graphic Artist Guild, Society of Composers and Lyricists, and ASCRL to
participate on behalf of Concept Art Association in AI meetings with the
following Congressional Offices: Ted Lieu, Judy Chu, Jim Jordan, Darrell Issa,
Michael McCaul, Tony Cardenas and Senators Joni Ernst, Thom Tillis, Chris
Coons, Lindsey Graham, Dick Durbin and Martin Heinrich.
4.
As part of its AI initiative, the United States Copyright Office hosted a
series of four AI Listening
Sessions on artificial intelligence. Due to introduction and outreach on behalf of
CAA, CAA Board Member, Karla Ortiz as well as CAA member, Matthew Cunningham
were invited to participate in the session and made excellent and persuasive
presentations.
(https://www.copyright.gov/ai/agenda/2023-Visual-Arts-Agenda.pdf).
5.
Prior to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s release of the SAFE Innovation Initiative
Framework on Artificial Intelligence, CAA’s lobbyist was invited to join a
small subset
of IP industry advocates in DC to speak with Senator Schumers’s key senior
staff leading the initiative. As a result of that meeting, CAA’s lobbyist was
able to set up a private call for CAA’s team to meet virtually with Senator
Schumer’s team to discuss the specific impact of generative AI on concept
artists. At those meetings, creators urged the Majority Leader to protect
creators as he and his colleagues look at all the vast aspects and impacts of
AI on this country. Majority Leader Schumer and his co-chairman Senator Mike
Rounds listened to our and other creators’ pleas and included specific
protection for creators in the “Accountability” section of his five central
policy objectives. It reads, “support our creators by addressing copyright
concerns, protect intellectual property, and address liability.” This was a
huge success for creators. We have stayed in close touch with the Schumer team
and hope to be included in one of their future meetings. For more on this
initiative: https://www.democrats.senate.gov/news/press-releases/majority-leader-schumer-delivers-remarks-to-launch-safe-innovation-framework-for-artificial-intelligence-at-csis
6.
As part of CAA’s first Washington, DC “Fly-In”, the Concept Art Association
team, led by lobbyist Cindi Merifield, met with the following Congressional
offices: Rep. Michael McCaul, House AI Caucus Co-Chairman; Rep. Don Beyer,
leading AI expert; Rep. Ted Lieu, House Judiciary Member/House Science
Committee Member; Chief IP Counsel, House Judiciary Committee; Rep. Darrell
Issa; Senator Martin Heinrich, Senate AI Caucus Co-Chairman; Senate Judiciary
Committee Chairman Dick Durbin and IP Subcommittee Chairman Chris Coons
(rescheduled for virtual meeting the following week.)
7.
CAA’s lobbyist also set up a meeting for the CAA team with Shira Perlmutter,
Register, US
Copyright Office (USCO) and her senior staff (including General Counsel, Chief
of Staff,
Public Liaison and other key senior executives) to make a presentation on the impact
of generative AI on concept artists and to discuss potential remedies and ways that
the Copyright Office can protect creators.
8.
The CAA Washington DC team attended (in person) the first House Judiciary
Committee AI hearing entitled: Part I-Interoperability of AI and Copyright Law,
and were able to meet and speak with Members of Congress, staff, witnesses, and
other copyright industry stakeholders.
9.
CAA’s DC Lobbyist hosted an IP Stakeholders meeting at a local restaurant on
Capitol Hill for the CAA team to meet and form relationships with other creator
and IP groups working toward Congressional action Generative AI on the creative
community.
10.
On the last evening of the “Fly-In”, CAA hosted an event, “Artists in Action,”
in one of the House Congressional office buildings on Capitol Hill.
Approximately 80 Members of Congress,
Congressional staff, and other Washington IP stakeholders observed artists Karla
Ortiz, Matthew Cunningham, and Steven Zapata showcase their work while educating
the Members and staff about the challenges concept artists face in the world of
generative AI. Rachel, Nicole, and CAA’s Lobbyist were able to speak to
numerous Members
and staff and followed up after the event to answer questions and to grow the
relationships.
11.
Politico, the leading newspaper on Capitol Hill and throughout DC, covered
CAA’s fly-in with this blurb: — The Concept Art Association, which represents
artists working in entertainment, will wrap up a two-day fly-in with a
demonstration from artists from the Avengers and Star Trek franchises. The
fly-in, which coincides with a House hearing today on AI and copyright law,
focused on discussions about preserving artists’ intellectual property online.
IP lobbyist Cindi Merifield of R2P Strategies is coordinating the push.
12.
CAA’s lobbyist set up an additional meeting with Rep. Ted Lieu’s office in
advance of his introduction of legislation establishing an AI Commission.
During that call and in follow-up, the CAA team gave the following suggestions
to the Lieu office: 1) that AI companies not dominate the Commission in terms
of seats; 2) that creators get a seat at the table, and 3) that IP rights must
be respected. Rep. Lieu’s office listened to our suggestions and included
language that limited the amount of seats of any industry could have on the
Commission and required that the creative community be represented on the
Commission.
13.
As a result of meetings and conversations with IP Subcommittee Chairman Chris
Coons, CAA Board Member, Karla Ortiz, was invited to be one of five panelists
to testify before the Senate Intellectual Property Subcommittee at a hearing
entitled, “Artificial Intelligence and Intellectual Property-Part II:
Copyright.” Karla’s testimony and participation on the panel well-received by
Members and staff and others in the intellectual property community.
https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/artificial-intelligence-and-intellectual-property_part-ii-copyright
14.
At the request of CAA Board Member, Karla Ortiz, CAA’s lobbyist set up a
virtual meeting with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) which has jurisdiction
over unfair and deceptive trade practices and other competition and fairness
issues in the marketplace, to discuss the dangers that generative AI poses to
the creative community. CAA met with the Acting Director of Privacy and ID
Protections and his team and had a robust and productive conversation.
15.
The FTC later hosted a Roundtable including the three sitting FTC
Commissioners, entitled
the “Creative Economy and Generative AI.” The FTC invited Karla Ortiz, representing
herself as a concept artist as well as Steven Zappatta, representing CAA, to
participate on a panel with other outstanding creator groups and unions to
discuss generative AI. Both Steven and Karla were extremely well-received and
the event was deemed by many in Washington as one of the most productive AI
discussions to date. More on the event: https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/events/2023/10/creative-economy-generative-ai
16.
We are working with CVL Economics to put together a report on the Early Impacts
of Artificial Intelligence on the Creative Industries. The Animation Guild,
National Cartoonist Foundation, and Human Artistry Campaign are all working
with CAA to commission this research report for policymakers.
17.
We hosted several virtual educational sessions for the community, including how
to register your copyright, what is in your work-for-hire contract, negotiating
your work-for-hire contract and a town hall with professional artists on how to
mitigate anxiety as you embark upon your art career in these uncertain times.
18.
We launched an Instagram account to provide more information and resources to
the community, @aimlmediaadvocacy
And
these are just the highlights! We should all be so proud of what we have been
able to accomplish in D.C. This brings us right up to date with news on our
second fly-in to D.C. in November. We are excited to build on all the
relationships for our first visit in May as well as virtual meetings we have
had since. We will be meeting with more Members of Congress and their staff,
the US Copyright Office, the USPTO, the FTC, and others while in Washington.
We
are very excited to share that CAA will be co-hosting an event with the Human
Artistry Campaign during our visit to Washington D.C. and will showcase musical
artists, concept artists, and visual development artists. The reception will
draw hundreds of Members of Congress, Congressional staff, Administration
officials, The US Copyright Office, The Patent Trademark Office, and the IP
Community in DC. This will be a huge opportunity for CAA to reach another level
of influence in Washington, one that usually takes many years, even decades to
accomplish, if groups ever do reach the level.
And
with that being said we really hope to continue this journey into 2024 and hope
we have your support for year two...."
"January
31st, 2024
by
Concept Art Association, Organizer
It’s
been a few months since we last updated you all. We know a lot of you are
struggling right now financially and mentally and you might be feeling a little
fed up but we really appreciate you continuing to support our efforts, either
through additional donations or by sharing the campaign with the community. We
love you all.
Unfortunately,
we have some bad news. As of tomorrow, February 1st we will no longer have our
D.C. lobbyist as we have been unable to continue to fundraise at the level that
we did last year. However, we have learned a lot over the past 18 months and
feel confident with that while we might not be able to return to D.C. anytime
soon, we have also decided to use what funds we have to send a small group to
Sacramento, California to speak to legislators up there and see what we can
achieve at the state level. There is some movement federally centering around
transparency, likeness and voice protections and FTC inquiries, but we’re
confident that the state level has the potential to move much faster."
Learn more about the Year 2 campaign here https://www.gofundme.com/f/37grdj9ofc?utm_campaign=p_lico%20share-sheet&utm_medium=
More on Year 1 here and the artists at the Senate (July 2023) here:
https://stuartngbooks.blogspot.com/2023/07/testimony-of-karla-ortiz-and-others-at.html
https://www.conceptartassociation.com/advocacy
