The Founders is an Azzet finance series showcasing the inspiring journeys of visionary entrepreneurs who turned ideas into thriving businesses. Dive into captivating stories and insightful interviews with founders and CEOs. They share their challenges, triumphs, and industry insights in this ongoing series.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is booming, but few realise just how profoundly the technology is reshaping industries across the globe, and while AI promises significant cost savings and greater efficiencies, the fallout for the creative sector will be hard felt.
The global AI market size is expected to be worth around A$5.667 trillion by 2033, up from $402 billion in 2023. AI is so powerful that the likes of global fintech Klarna, stopped hiring human workers around a year ago in favour of AI.
But AI raises serious ethical questions about its impact on human talent and creativity. In recent years, the use of AI images throughout fashion, advertising and media industries has soared.
Alarmingly, there is widespread theft and deep fakes of real people, including images and “likeness”, voices, photographs and art, without the person’s consent. Indeed, some argue that the technology should not replace human workers, but instead be integrated into creative processes, in a way that preserves jobs and protects an individual’s rights.
This is where the concept of "ethical AI" comes into play, and one of Australia’s biggest advocates in the ethical AI space is Chelsea Bonner, who is fighting to ensure the future of Australia’s creative industry is not toppled by AI.
Ethical AI: a blend of human creativity and AI technology
Chelsea Bonner, Chief Executive of ICON Management believes the only way forward is by combining AI technology with human creativity. The talent agent says AI should serve as a tool to enhance the capabilities of human artists, photographers, models, stylists, and other creatives, rather than replacing them. Having grown up in the entertainment industry as an actor's daughter, Chelsea is devastated by what is happening to the sector.
"The only way forward is to use AI technology and integrate it with human creativity, so that we can at least have an ethical option for businesses who care about ethics," she says. “The whole thing needs to be flipped on its head, we need really strong legislation around personal identity copyright theft which doesn’t even exist”.
AI relies on the output of human minds — scraping data from countless creative works to train its algorithms. "Everything else is data scraped," she adds. "AI is mass data theft. It’s a copy or composite of human beings’ creative output."
Chelsea raises an important issue, and explains how without immediate action from the Australian government, and proper legislation in place, AI will continue to exploit creators, by using their work without compensation or recognition. As it stands, computers have no ethics.
The need for immediate legislation
Chelsea is so concerned about the impact AI is already having on artists, and the lack of action taken by the Australian government, that she created a petition against AI misuse of images and videos, along with famed journalist Tracey Spicer and model Robyn Lawley.
Since the petition went live last December, it has garnered 20,421 signatures, just shy of the 25,000 goal and is waiting to be assigned to a Member of Parliament to take to the House of Representatives.
"Governments around the world, not just here, are so far behind on this issue," the former model says. "The E.U. is ahead of us, even the U.S. has made strides with the No Fakes Act, but we are lagging."
The NO FAKES Act 2024 was introduced in the U.S. to preserve individuals' rights in the digital age by recognising a federal intellectual property right to their own voice and visual likeness, and it extends this protection to their relatives after their death. Australia has no such equivalent in place.
"In fact, paparazzi photographers have more rights than the person in the photo," Chelsea pointed out, highlighting the absurdity of the current Australian legal landscape.
"There is no personal copyright over anything that we do or over our own person," says Bonner, the author of Body Image Warrior. This leaves artists and performers vulnerable to having their likeness, voice, or mannerisms copied and used without their consent, with no recourse for compensation or protection.
Empowering creators with an ethical AI platform
Being the astute businessperson that Chelsea is, she is now spearheading a platform that merges AI with human talent. The technology enables talent to create their own avatars, which can be used by brands and agencies in advertising and other media. The platform ensures that every participant — from models to photographers, stylists, and makeup artists — is paid fairly for their contributions.
"Our software allows you to go on there and we create an avatar of you, which you can then commercialise by hosting it on the website," Chelsea explains. "Brands from anywhere in the world can hire you, and we pay everyone involved."
The platform also allows users to choose from a variety of backgrounds, makeup looks, and accessories to create professional, high-quality images in a matter of minutes, all while ensuring that talent retain full ownership of their avatars and are compensated accordingly.
"It's weird that you can copyright your avatar but can't copyright your own self in a photo," Chelsea muses. Through this platform, creators no longer have to sell their likeness or voice to large tech companies, that profit from their data. Instead, they retain control over how their digital identity is used, ensuring they are paid fairly for any commercial use.
Chelsea is meeting with Venture Capitalists in the coming months to secure funding and is hoping “that we can convince these business people to understand the gravity of the loss that will be incurred by society as a whole, not just now, but for centuries to come.”
She believes that as businesses increasingly turn to AI-generated content, there will be market demand for ethical AI solutions that integrate human talent and creativity, because Bonner thinks businesses want to do the right thing by talent.
"I honestly think that there are so many brands around the world who will be happy to pay a little bit more, at least 50% more, to use ethical AI and real human talent," she says. "They’ll take it up because it allows them to support the economy and talent."
In a world where businesses are constantly looking for cost-effective solutions, ethical AI offers a way for companies to reduce costs without exploiting workers or compromising on quality.
For example, instead of spending tens of thousands of dollars on a traditional photoshoot, companies could use an ethical AI platform to produce high-quality images in a fraction of the time and at a fraction of the cost.
Chelsea has shown that the negative implications of AI for creatives are indeed real and that ethical AI is the only way forward for the creative industry to remain in tact.
Related content