UK creatives protest AI copyright law changes with silent album and campaign

British creatives are speaking out against the government's proposed changes to copyright law. Take Kate Bush, Annie Lennox and Ben Howard, who join over 1,000 musicians in releasing a protest album called Is This What We Want?. 

Currently, AI developers must follow the same copyright laws as anyone else, meaning they can't use creative material to train models without permission. However, the December 2024 proposal would provide them with a copyright exemption that requires creatives to "opt out" of their materials being used. Tuesday, February 25 is the government's last day seeking views on the change. 

"The musicians on this album came together to protest this," reads the release statement. "The album consists of recordings of empty studios and performance spaces, representing the impact we expect the government’s proposals would have on musicians’ livelihoods." 

The album consists of 12 songs with their titles spelling out, "The British government must not legalise music theft to benefit AI companies." The record's profits go toward UK-based charity Help Musicians. 

Tuesday also saw the UK News Media Association and publications including The Guardian protest the copyright exemption proposal through the Make It Fair campaign. "The creative works of British artists, authors, journalists, illustrators, photographers, film-makers, scriptwriters, singers and songwriters are being scraped from the internet by tech companies, big and small, to build and maintain AI products that have the potential to reshape our world," the campaign argues. "Without fair reward, our creative industries simply won’t survive. The government must stand behind its creative industries. It’s time to fairly compensate the creators."

On Monday, a range of creatives wrote an open letter to The Times in protest. "There is no moral or economic argument for stealing our copyright. Taking it away will devastate the industry and steal the future of the next generation," it stated. Signatories included Paul McCartney, Elton John, Dua Lipa, Helen Fielding and Ed Sheeran. 

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