Theft of creative works is unforgivable, says Ragnar Jónasson

“Technology evolves so rapidly that we cannot predict its consequences. The landscape could be entirely different in a year or two. This is a very serious issue,” warns Ragnar Jónasson, author and vice-chairman of the Icelandic Writers’ Association.

Jónasson, who also teaches copyright law at Reykjavík University, has voiced deep concerns over the unauthorized use of copyrighted material by large corporations to train artificial intelligence models.

Writers take legal action against AI misuse

On Thursday, Morgunblaðið reported on a lawsuit filed by writers against Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. The lawsuit alleges that Meta used material from LibGen—one of the world’s largest electronic libraries—to train its AI tools. Much of the content in LibGen, including works by Jónasson and other Icelandic authors, has been illegally uploaded.

Jónasson finds it unacceptable that copyrighted works are exploited without permission for AI development, warning that such practices threaten copyright protections and artistic integrity.

“If this is allowed, it will undermine the foundation of copyright and disrupt artistic creation,” he states.

An existential threat to artists

Jónasson expresses particular concern over AI-generated literature that could directly compete with works by human authors.

“They will likely use these books to create similar ones. The prospect of AI-generated content competing with human creativity is troubling. This represents an existential threat to artistic expression,” he concludes.