British musicians release silent album to protest AI use of their work
A new album called Is This What We Want? features a stellar list of more than 1,000 musicians — and the sound of silence.
With contributions from artists including Kate Bush, Annie Lennox, Cat Stevens and Damon Albarn, the album was released Tuesday to protest proposed British changes to artificial intelligence laws that artists fear will erode their creative control.
Creative industries globally are grappling with the legal and ethical implications of AI models that can produce their own output after being trained on popular works without necessarily paying the creators of the original content.
The U.K. government is consulting on whether to let tech firms use copyrighted material to help train AI models unless the creators explicitly opt out.
Critics of the idea fear that will make it harder for artists to retain control of their work and will undermine Britain's creative industries. Elton John and Paul McCartney are among those who have spoken out against the plan.
In a letter to The Times on Monday, McCartney, John and Andrew Lloyd Webber warned about the proposals, saying the current copyright system "is one of the main reasons why rights holders work in Britain."
The protest album features recordings of empty studios and performance spaces, to show what they fear will be the fate of creative venues if the plan goes through. The titles of the 12 tracks spell out "The British Government Must Not Legalize Music Theft to Benefit AI Companies."
Artists argue changes reverse copyright law principles
Profits will be donated to the musicians' charity Help Musicians.
"The government's proposal would hand the life's work of the country's musicians to AI companies, for free, letting those companies exploit musicians' work to outcompete them," said composer and AI developer Ed Newton-Rex, who organized the album.
"It is a plan that would not only be disastrous for musicians, but that is totally unnecessary," Newton-Rex said. "The U.K. can be leaders in AI without throwing our world-leading creative industries under the bus."
Britain's Labour Party government says it wants to make the U.K. a world leader in AI. In December, it announced a consultation into how copyright law can "enable creators and right holders to exercise control over, and seek remuneration for, the use of their works for AI training," while also ensuring "AI developers have easy access to a broad range of high-quality creative content." The consultation closes on Tuesday.
Publishers, artists' organizations and media companies, including The Associated Press, have banded together as the Creative Rights in AI Coalition to oppose weakening copyright protections.
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