A few weeks ago, in this paper's pages I published a deeply personal account about my 25-year estrangement from my father, Robin.
I shared the emotionally fraught story that began over a petty dispute in 1998 and the cold shadow of estrangement that crept in until, tragically, he died last December without us being reconciled.
The piece was incredibly important to me and I was determined to stop it being copied, so I placed my copyright – ©RobMcGibbon – at the foot of the article in the hope of deterring thieves.
As an interviewer of celebrities for nearly 40 years, I am familiar with my work being 'aggregated' by others without permission, so I wanted to retain some control.
But within hours of my 'estrangement hell' being published in print and online on Mail+, it had been stolen. Was it by an individual – a journalist, perhaps – helping themselves to my work? No. It was Artificial Intelligence, or AI, and a very 21st-century version of copyright theft.
