Earlier this month, a group of protesters gathered outside the London headquarters of Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. They were demonstrating over the company’s use of millions of pirated books and research papers to feed their family of generative AI models, known as Llama.

AJ West is a bestselling author of historical fiction and an organiser of the protest. He tells Helen Pidd that he was devastated to discover his books may have been used in this way, and he warns that if the UK government does not step in to protect writers’ copyright, the arts will become even more of a privilege of the rich.

“Never in the history of British literature has there been such a towering, brazen attempt on British copyright” – AJ West.

Ella Creamer, a books reporter at the Guardian, explains that a growing number of authors in the US have filed lawsuits against Meta claiming their copyright has been infringed and that their livelihoods may well be under threat. She discusses the way Meta has tried to justify its actions by claiming fair use and presenting it as a form of innovation that will ultimately serve society, despite a cache of emails being released that reveal the mixed feelings of Meta employees.

The writer and campaigner Kate Mosse outlines to Helen just how much work goes into writing a novel and how the UK government would be unwise to risk the future of the creative industries, despite her belief that truly creative writing could never be replaced by AI.

Support the Guardian today: theguardian.com/todayinfocuspod