Elton John calls Labour ‘absolute losers' over AI

Telegraph

18-05-2025

Sir Elton John has called the Government 'absolute losers' over its plans to regulate AI.
The singer, 78, described one Cabinet minister as a 'bit of a moron' for not forcing tech companies to disclose which content they are using to train artificial intelligence (AI) models.
Hundreds of news and creative organisations, including The Telegraph, backed a campaign to make the AI development process more transparent.
Sir Elton said the companies were 'committing theft, thievery, on a high scale'.
Speaking on the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme, he said he felt 'incredibly betrayed' by the Government and alluded to taking legal action.
This week, ministers rejected an amendment to the Government's Data Bill, which was proposed by Baroness Kidron, to force companies to notify copyright holders if their work is used to train generative AI models.
Creatives such as Robbie Williams and Dame Shirley Bassey have argued that without the 'transparency' clause, their content would effectively be stolen.
Sir Elton warned that the Government is on course to 'rob young people of their legacy and their income', adding that Sir Keir Starmer and his Cabinet were 'just being absolute losers... about it'.
He said the Prime Minister needed to 'wise up' and singled out Peter Kyle, the Tech Secretary, as 'a bit of a moron'.
'We'll fight it all the way,' he said, indicating that he and other artists would take legal action.
Sir Elton continued: 'The House of Lords did a vote and it was more than two to one in our favour.
'The Government just looked at it as if to say, 'Hmm, well the old people...like me can afford it'.'
Mr Kyle had previously supported rules that would have required copyright holders to 'opt out' if they did not want their content to be used by AI.
But the Government has softened its stance and said it would produce a policy proposal on how to manage AI within a year of the Data Bill being signed into law.
Its opponents have said this means AI companies will be given carte blanch to use copyrighted content in the meantime without the owners knowing.
Some tech companies have previously been found to have used pirated content from the internet to train AI services, which creatives believe will reduce the demand for human-generated music, books and art.
Government softens stance
Last week, Baroness Kidron's amendment passed in the House of Lords with a majority of 147 peers, marking a significant defeat for the Government.
However, ministers stripped out the amendment when the bill returned to the House of Commons on Wednesday after arguing that it would place a financial burden on the Treasury.
The Commons holds the exclusive right to allocate public funds in UK law.
A Government spokesman said ministers want the 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'.
They added that it was 'equally important that we put in the groundwork now as we consider the next steps'.
The spokesman continued: '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.'