Playwright Jack Thorne has condemned the government's approach to AI regulation and issued a sharp warning to writers who use the technology, calling it a form of cheating that undermines the profession. Speaking at the Southbank Centre's Creative Intelligence Summit on Sunday, Thorne, who is president of the Writers' Guild of Great Britain (WGGB), said the next five years of government action - or inaction - will determine the future of writing in the UK for a century.
"The government is staring at AI with eyes wider than Bugs Bunny," Thorne said. "It doesn't know what it is, it doesn't know whether to run towards it or run away. It doesn't know whether it's the future of our country's economy or a massive destructive force."
His speech arrives amid growing alarm from industry insiders. Anthropic AI researcher Jacob Coxon recently resigned and told the BBC, "I believe that if we don't slow down at the current rate of progress, there is a strong chance that we could all die in the immediate future." Thorne said AI sector workers have told him that "the worst excesses in tech are encouraged and led by the idea that whatever they're doing, the other side are doing worse."
A direct challenge to fellow writers
Thorne did not limit his criticism to policymakers. He urged writers to stop using AI tools to shortcut their work, arguing that any adoption by authors hands publishers and studios a justification to replace human labour. "If publishers, studios, streamers, can point to the writer as the problem, that gives them the excuse to behave however they'd like with content," he said. "'We have to use AI because you guys are.'"
He framed the issue as one of cultural survival. "If we do not have a wide variety of people telling stories - in all mediums - about who they are and what they care for then we will shrink as a country both economically and culturally," Thorne said. "AI, in its current form, is a shrinking tool. And it doesn't need to be. We do not wish to be shrunk." He cited I May Destroy You creator Michaela Coel, warning that if her work can be scraped to produce a "Michaela Coel substitute, then the investment in the next Michaela Coel becomes less likely."
Five proposals for intervention
Thorne outlined a set of specific regulatory demands. He called for mandatory datasets that reveal where AI models have sourced their inputs, a change to fraud legislation requiring the declaration of AI authorship, and a ban on AI systems impersonating particular human writers. He also proposed the creation of a Copyright Institute - a regulatory body to monitor AI expansion and recommend government intervention when necessary.
The speech builds on pressure from other creative professionals. Last month, more than 80 performers wrote to Prime Minister Andy Burnham urging action on AI voice cloning. Thorne addressed Burnham directly, saying the government must protect a diverse creative sector that "caters to the local."
For writers and creatives navigating these shifts, understanding how generative AI and LLMs function is becoming essential to informed advocacy. Thorne concluded with a stark prediction: "If we cannot police our profession, if we are not given the ability to police our profession, then practices are going to result which are going to lead to the partial destruction of this profession."
Why this matters for creatives
Thorne's speech draws a direct line between individual choices and industry-wide consequences. His argument that writer adoption of AI tools provides cover for studios to devalue human work is a concrete warning, not an abstract concern. The five regulatory proposals - particularly mandatory data transparency and authorship fraud rules - signal where guild-level lobbying is heading. Creatives who depend on copyright protection and fair compensation have a material stake in whether a Copyright Institute or equivalent body emerges from these demands. The next five years of policy decisions will shape licensing, royalties, and hiring practices across publishing, television, and film. For more on how AI intersects with creative work, see AI for creatives.
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