The digital equivalent of someone selling stolen electronics or meat out of the back of a van, appearing on one corner one day and another the next.  Recent revelations about Meta’s use of copyrighted material for AI training have reignited concerns about how our creative works are being exploited. While Meta’s actions are troubling, the deeper issue isn’t new. It’s one I’ve spoken about before, and one I’ll continue to emphasize. The problem lies not just in what corporations like Meta are doing, but in how easily this exploitation is enabled. For decades, authors, artists, content creators, and consumers of our work, have been unknowingly, or carelessly, feeding the beast. The right hand (AI) has our attention right now, but the left hand is still stealing our wallet. The Problem We Helped Create I’ve long cautioned about the risks of uploading books, documents, and images to websites and software platforms without fully understanding the terms of service. Many creators have ...