Protecting Creative Rights in the Age of AI
Courtesy: Printweek
In a powerful statement of unity, more than 1,000 musicians, including Kate Bush, Damon Albarn, and Annie Lennox, have released a silent album titled Is This What We Want? in protest against UK government plans to allow artificial intelligence (AI) companies to use copyright-protected work without permission. This move comes as a wave of celebrities and creative professionals, including Paul McCartney, Elton John, and Julianne Moore, rally against the proposed changes to copyright law.
The silent album, featuring recordings of dormant music studios and performance spaces, aims to highlight the devastating impact on artists' livelihoods if the government proceeds with its plans. According to Ed Newton-Rex, the British composer behind the idea, the proposal would "hand the life’s work of the country’s musicians to AI companies for free," allowing them to exploit musicians' work without proper recognition or compensation.
The dispute over AI firms’ use of copyrighted work stems from how they create the technology underpinning their products. AI models, such as those powering ChatGPT and Stable Diffusion, require vast amounts of data, including novels, music tracks, and newspaper articles, to learn and create realistic outputs. However, the use of copyright-protected work without permission has sparked a wave of lawsuits from authors, news publishers, and artists.
A coalition of media and entertainment companies, contributing £126bn to the UK economy annually, has called on the government to abandon its plans. The Make It Fair campaign argues that the move would strip creative industries of control over their work, threaten jobs, and undermine financial models. Owen Meredith, chief executive of the News Media Association, emphasised the importance of upholding existing copyright laws to ensure creatives receive proper financial rewards from AI firms.
Every major UK news publisher recently called on the Government to abandon its plan to weaken copyright laws, which would enable tech giants to scrape content without payment. A coalition of media and entertainment companies warns that Labour’s plans to make Britain an AI hub could be undermined if the Government allows tech firms to use vast catalogues of news articles, books, video footage, and photography without a licence and without payment. Generative AI companies such as OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, need vast amounts of high-quality, human-created data to “train” their sophisticated software models to automate a wide range of tasks. Under the Government's proposals, these tech firms would have the legal right to use content created by British companies without permission or payment.
The Creative Rights in AI Coalition, comprising national and local news brands alongside the wider creative industries sector, warns that such an approach will backfire and damage the UK economy by stripping companies of control over how their work is used. The campaign adds that the move would threaten jobs by depriving creative industries of revenues from the AI revolution while undermining their existing financial models. The coalition’s Make It Fair proposals call for existing copyright laws, which explicitly ban text and data mining for commercial purposes without first obtaining a licence from the copyright holder, to be upheld.
As a supporter of Welsh arts and creatives, it's crucial to recognise that AI is here to stay. AI relies on vast amounts of data to generate content, and it’s essential to acknowledge and credit the individuals who contribute this data. Just as one would cite references in a dissertation or credit a writer in a new music track, AI-generated content should also recognise its sources. Moreover, where necessary, compensation should be provided to those whose work has been used.
Artists and creatives have legitimate concerns about AI using their creativity to produce similar works. It is only fair that they are rewarded for their contributions to AI-generated content. While managing this will ultimately be a government decision, enforcing it in a global society will be challenging. However, it is a necessary step to ensure that AI development does not come at the expense of our creative industries.
The silent album and the coalition's campaign serve as powerful reminders that we must protect the rights of our creative professionals. By ensuring fair compensation and recognition, we can foster an environment where both AI and the creative industries can thrive.