Paul McCartney has urged the British government not to make a change to copyright laws which he says could let AI companies rip off artists.
The British government is consulting on whether to allow tech companies to use copyrighted material to help train artificial intelligence models unless the creators explicitly opt in.
McCartney told the BBC it would make it harder for artists to retain control of their work and undermine Britain’s creative industries.
“You get young people, girls, coming in, and they write a beautiful song, and they don’t own it, and they have nothing to do with it. And anyone who wants to can scam you,” the 82-year-old former Beatle said in an interview to be broadcast on Sunday. The BBC released an excerpt on Saturday.
“The truth is that money goes somewhere. When it’s on streaming platforms, someone is receiving it, and it should be the person who created it. It shouldn’t be a tech giant somewhere.”
Britain’s Center Labor Party government says it wants to make the UK a world leader in AI. In December, it announced a consultation on how copyright law can “enable creators and right holders to exercise control and seek remuneration for the use of their works for AI training,” while ensuring that the ” AI developers have easy access to a wide range of high-quality creative content.”
Publishers, artists organizations and media companies, including The Associated Press, have joined together as the creative rights in AI coalition to oppose weakening copyright protections.
“We are the people, you are the government. You’re supposed to protect us. That’s your job,” McCartney said. “So if you’re making a bill, make sure you protect the creative thinkers, the creative artists or you’re not going to have them.”
