LONDON —
More than 1,000 musicians, including Kate Bush and Cat Stevens, released a silent album on Tuesday to protest proposed changes to British copyright laws that could allow tech companies to train artificial intelligence models using their work.
Creative industries globally are grappling with the legal and ethical implications of AI models that can produce their own output after being trained on popular works without necessarily paying the creators of the original content.
Britain, which Prime Minister Keir Starmer wants to turn into an AI superpower, has proposed relaxing laws that currently give creators of literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works the right to control the ways their material can be used.
The proposed changes would allow AI developers to train their models on any material to which they legally have access and would require creators to proactively opt out of using their work.
The changes have been harshly criticized by many artists, who say they would reverse the principle of copyright law, which gives creators exclusive control over their work.
“In the music of the future, will our voices not be heard?” said Bush, whose 1985 hit “Running Up That Hill” enjoyed a resurgence in 2022 thanks to the Netflix show “Stranger Things.”
The co-written album titled “Is This What We Want?” features footage of empty studios and performance spaces to depict what organizers say is the potential impact on artists’ livelihoods if the changes go ahead.
A public consultation on the legal changes closes later on Tuesday.
Responding to the album, a government spokesperson said the current AI and copyright regime was preventing the creative industries, media and AI sector from “realising their full potential”.
“We have collaborated extensively with these sectors throughout and will continue to do so. No decisions have been made,” the spokesperson said, adding that the government’s proposals would be set out in due course.
Annie Lennox, Billy Ocean, Hans Zimmer, Tori Amos and The Clash are among the musicians urging the government to review its plans.
“The government’s proposal would hand over the life work of the country’s musicians to AI companies, for free, allowing those companies to exploit musicians’ work to compete with them,” said organizer Ed Newton-Rex, founder of Fairly Trained, a nonprofit that certifies generative AI companies for fairer training data practices.
“The UK can be a leader in AI without ruining our world-leading creative industries.”
