Musicians release silent album to protest against Britain’s proposed AI copyright changes
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Scottish singer Annie Lennox (left) and German composer Hans Zimmer are among the musicians urging the British government to review its plans.
PHOTOS: AFP, REUTERS
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LONDON – More than 1,000 musicians, including British singers Kate Bush and Cat Stevens, on Feb 25 released a silent album to protest against proposed changes to Britain’s copyright laws, which could allow tech firms to train artificial intelligence (AI) 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 become an AI superpower,
The proposed changes would allow AI developers to train their models on any material to which they have lawful access, and would require creators to proactively opt out to stop their work from being used.
The changes have been heavily criticised by many artistes, who say they would reverse the principle of copyright law, which grants exclusive control to creators for their work.
“In the music of the future, will our voices go unheard?” said Bush, whose 1985 hit Running Up That Hill enjoyed a resurgence in 2022 thanks to Netflix series Stranger Things (2016 to present).
The co-written album, titled Is This What We Want?, features recordings of empty studios and performance spaces to represent what organisers say is the potential impact on artistes’ livelihoods should the changes go ahead.
A public consultation on the legal changes closes later on Feb 25.
Responding to the album, a government spokesperson said the current copyright and AI regime is holding back the creative industries, media and AI sector from “realising their full potential”.
“We have engaged extensively with these sectors throughout and will continue to do so. No decisions have been taken,” the spokesperson added, saying that the government’s proposals will be set out in due course.
Scottish singer Annie Lennox, British singer Billy Ocean, German composer Hans Zimmer, American singer Tori Amos and English rock band The Clash are among the musicians urging the government to review its plans.
“The government’s proposal would hand the life’s work of the country’s musicians to AI companies for free, letting those companies exploit musicians’ work to outcompete them,” said organiser Ed Newton-Rex, founder of Fairly Trained, a non-profit that certifies generative AI companies for fairer training data practices.
“The UK can be leaders in AI without throwing our world-leading creative industries under the bus.” REUTERS
