Dua Lipa, Elton John and more rally against AI plans

400 British artists, including Dua Lipa, Elton John, and Ian McKellen, are uniting against AI. In a letter addressed to UK prime minister Keir Starmer, the musicians, writers, and other artists demanded for copyright laws to be updated in order to grant them protection against artificial intelligence, as per the BBC.

The artists assert that a lack of protection would be equivalent to them "giving away" their work to tech firms. They also believe that this would put "the UK's position as a creative powerhouse" at risk.

They have formally requested the prime minister to support an amendment to the Data (Use and Access) Bill that would ensure transparency between developers and the copyright owners whose material would be used to train AI models.

"We want our creative industries and AI companies to flourish, which is why we're consulting on a package of measures that we hope will work for both sectors," said a government spokesman. "We're clear that no changes will be considered unless we are completely satisfied they work for creators."

'AI needs us'

Other signatories include author Kazuo Ishiguro, band Coldplay, singers Kate Bush and Robbie Williams, playwright David Hare, Tom Stoppard, and Richard Curtis.

"We are wealth creators, we reflect and promote the national stories, we are the innovators of the future, and AI needs us as much as it needs energy and computer skills," the letter states.

It also emphasises that the government can put their concerns to rest by backing Baroness Beeban Kidron's proposed amendment ahead of a key vote in the House of Lords. As cited, the amendment would "allow both AI developers and creators to develop licensing regimes that will allow for human-created content well into the future."

The letter comes amid concerns about creative security plaguing the entertainment industry. In an interview with the BBC in January, The Beatles alum Paul McCartney stressed that AI puts artists' copyright under risk.

Appealing to the government, he said, "We're the people, you're the government! You're supposed to protect us. That's your job. So you know, if you're putting through a bill, make sure you protect the creative thinkers, the creative artists, or you're not going to have them."

In protest of the government's proposed changes to the copyright law, which would allow developers to use content on the internet unless the relevant right-holding creators elect to "opt out", more than 1000 musicians including Annie Lennox and Damon Albarn released a silent album in February.

Titled Is This What We Want?, the album hoped to draw attention to the proposal's impact on the livelihoods of artists in the UK music industry. "In the music of the future, will our voices go unheard?" Kate Bush said in a statement.

Even the sphere of authors resists the unlicensed nature of the government's plans. Ishiguro pointed to an earlier statement, which read, "Why is it just and fair — why is it sensible — to alter our time-honoured copyright laws to advantage mammoth corporations at the expense of individual writers, musicians, filmmakers, and artists?"

The Nobel Prize winner further hoped that since the government seemed to acknowledge the dissent sparked by the opt-out proposal, a renewed consultation with a fairer scheme would be possible. However, only time would tell if future consultations would prove meaningful. "It's essential that they get this right," he wrote.

"It's vital we take the time to work through the range of responses to our consultation, but equally important that we put in the groundwork now as we consider the next steps," the government said in a statement. "That is why we have committed to publishing a report and economic impact assessment, exploring the broad range of issues and options on all sides of the debate."