Rights on the brink for local creatives - the row over AI
Are we soon to see success for a campaign to save Brighton's most creative minds from having their designs, words and music plundered by artificial intelligence? Ministers have softened their proposals already, but doing nothing is not an option.
The rise of AI has come with many challenges, but one which could have a devastating impact on the livelihoods of the many authors, filmmakers, musicians, artists, photographers, game developers, and designers who live and work in Brighton, is the systematic theft of creative works to train AI models. These models then adapt, take from and even reproduce works without any credit, payment or respect for those whose human skills it has, effectively, stolen.
I am shocked that this looting has been allowed to go so fast and so far already, and I am not alone. Along with more than 50,000 others including Kate Bush, Malorie Blackman and Bjӧrn Ulvaeus, and several other MPs, I have added my name to a statement that declares this practice is: 'a major unjust threat to the livelihoods of the people behind those works, and must not be permitted.'
Recently, I spent time listening to creatives in Brighton who have huge concerns about the Government's approach up to now. They feel like the demands of tech giants like Meta and Open AI are having undue influence on ministers, who should instead be protecting our homegrown talent.
The Government has been consulting on plans to allow tech firms to use copyrighted creative works to train their AI models without the original creator's permission. They originally expressed a preference for a voluntary 'opt-out' scheme for artists to prevent their work from being used but have now said they are looking more broadly at options.
I sat down last month with a local composer leading a grassroots effort to get the Government to change course. He told me he is currently holding off on releasing his next album until he can be sure that no more of his work will be immediately stolen, and is adamantly against the opt-out proposals. It was awful to hear that this mess, with work being immediately hoovered up by tech companies, is preventing artists from delivering new work, for fear they could be ripped off.
With 36 others, writing as Composers of Brighton, he sent me and other local MPs a joint letter laying out the stakes, saying: 'The government's duty is to protect the Creative Industries and to encourage ethical and responsible AI developers. Not legalising the mass theft of our nation's creative work and destroying a £126 billion a year industry that is the envy of the world.'
I also met recently with a successful local author, whose work has already been swept up into these models, and who told me this is not a distant threat, but: 'actually very directly affecting our lives and livelihoods now. Every resident who has had their work stolen for a large language model to power AI is a victim of crime - myself included.'
Parliament heatedly debated the issue last week. There was a lot of support for strong amendments to prevent this, which were voted down this time by the Government. However, many of my fellow MPs spoke about creative rights and against the Government's stance and. With the Lords still to finish their work and creatives there, including film director and producer Baroness Kidron, pushing for changes, there is more hope now for this campaign.
Speaking at the end of the debate I said: 'Our most talented and creative minds have not been getting fair representation from the Government up to now, and this has been a very interesting, well informed and, hopefully, influential debate.'
In the chamber, all the body language and comments from ministers, including Hove and Portslade MP Peter Kyle, suggested the fierce campaigning and MP pressure is really starting to hit home, and they even put in their own amendments promising to review the situation.
So they are asking us to watch this space, but the current free-for-all cannot be left to fester for long. And with tech issues tied up in negotiations with Trump and the USA there is still so much uncertainty.
I really hope that the final proposals from ministers will come very soon indeed, and that our local creatives find they have helped win a famous victory for one of our most important industries.
Sian Berry is the Green MP for Brighton Pavilion
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