Latest news with #MakeitFair
Yahoo
11-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Labour's AI plans are ‘an act of cultural suicide'
Government plans to weaken copyright laws for the benefit of AI companies are 'a cultural act of suicide', according to Britain's leading literary agent. Jonny Geller, chief executive of the Curtis Brown agency, said that the publication of an AI-generated bestseller was inevitable and would spell catastrophe for the creative industries. Under new proposals, big tech companies would be allowed to use copyrighted material to train AI software unless the rights holder explicitly opted out. Mr Geller, whose authors include Marian Keyes, Anthony Horowitz and William Boyd, and who manages the estate of John le Carré, said the publishing industry must fight the plans. Writing in The Bookseller, he said: 'The publishing and agency world may be sleepwalking into its own dangerous and dark period. Not so much a democratic threat as a cultural act of suicide. 'Under the banner of 'how can you stop progress?', we are being invited to reward the companies who stole our authors' work by doing deals with those very same companies.' Mr Geller said that 'no organisation should have the right to take image, creative talent or copyright without permission and that permission should not be obscured by an 'opt-out' only option'. He also argued that AI-generated fiction and non-fiction should be labelled as such, and AI content must provide attribution and pay for its sources. 'Of course, there will be a number one, bestselling novel that is purely AI-generated and we will talk about it and bewail (again) the death of the novel,' he said. 'But it will herald a period of disruption so catastrophic for the creative industry that we will forget this simple, inalienable truth: that all creativity comes from humans who have either lived or imagined extraordinary worlds, not a programme that has recycled older ideas and juggled words around,' Geller said. His intervention on behalf of the publishing industry follows last month's release of a silent album by more than 1,000 musicians, including Kate Bush, Damon Albarn and Hans Zimmer, in protest at the Government's planned changes. Sir Paul McCartney has also sent a message to the Government, saying: 'You're supposed to protect us. That's your job. So if you're putting through a Bill, make sure you protect the creative thinkers, the creative artist, or you're not going to have them.' The Make it Fair campaign, backed by a coalition of creatives, artists and businesses including The Telegraph, also opposes the proposals. Dame Caroline Dinenage, chairman of the culture, media and sport select committee, likened the opt-out rule to 'burglars being allowed into your house unless there's a big sign on your front door expressly telling them that thievery isn't allowed'. According to the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, the UK's current regime for copyright and AI 'is holding back the creative industries, media and AI sector from realising their full potential – and that cannot continue'. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Observer
27-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Observer
Kate Bush leads UK musicians in 'silent album' AI fight
Over 1,000 musicians including Kate Bush, Annie Lennox and Damon Albarn on Tuesday released a silent album in protest at proposed changes to UK copyright law around artificial intelligence (AI) which they say will legalise music theft. "Is This What We Want" featuring recordings of empty studios and performance spaces is part of a growing backlash against the government's plans. Writers and musicians including Bush also denounced the proposals as a "wholesale giveaway" to Silicon Valley in a letter to The Times newspaper on Tuesday. Other signatories included Paul McCartney, Elton John, Ed Sheeran, Dua Lipa and Sting as well as writers Kazuo Ishiguro, Michael Morpurgo and Helen Fielding. In a very rare move, UK newspapers also highlighted their concerns launching a "Make it Fair" campaign featuring wrap round ads on the front of almost every national daily, with an inside editorial by the papers' editors. Prime Minister Keir Starmer's Labour government is considering overhauling the law to allow AI companies to use creators' content on the internet to help develop their models, unless rights holders opt out. But artists say opting out will be difficult and onerous. Album organiser Ed Newton-Rex said musicians were "united in their thorough condemnation of this ill-thought-through plan". "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," he said. "It is a plan that would not only be disastrous for musicians, but that is totally unnecessary. The UK can be leaders in AI without throwing our world-leading creative industries under the bus," he added. - 'Catastrophic' - The album's release was timed to coincide with the end of the government's public consultation on the proposed changes. Starmer has previously said the government needs to "get the balance right" with copyright and AI while noting the technology represented "a huge opportunity". Authors have also spoken out about the UK government's plans. Best selling US writer Scott Turow last week criticised the "cavalier attitude of the British government" which he said proposed to "allow big tech companies to scrape all of our books and repackage our words as 'original content'." "Instead of trying to prevent this, the British government wants to give them a free pass. That will be catastrophic, not just for writers in the UK, but all over the world," he wrote in the Daily Mail. In a rare interview last month, McCartney, 82, one of the two surviving members of The Beatles, told the BBC any new legislation had to protect creative thinkers and artists, warning "you're not going to have them" without that. "You get young guys, girls, coming up, and they write a beautiful song, and they don't own it, and they don't have anything to do with it. And anyone who wants can just rip it off," he said. "The truth is, the money's going somewhere ... Somebody's getting paid, so why shouldn't it be the guy who sat down and wrote 'Yesterday'?" In 2023, UK music contributed £7.6 billion to the UK economy, with exports of UK music reaching £4.6 billion. —AFP
The Guardian
25-02-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
Make It Fair
Don't steal our creativity The imagination of the UK's creative industries powers the British economy and shapes how the rest of the world sees us as a nation. The creative works of British artists, authors, journalists, illustrators, photographers, film-makers, scriptwriters, singers and songwriters are being scraped from the internet by tech companies, big and small, to build and maintain AI products that have the potential to reshape our world. But most of those companies are taking British creativity without permission and, crucially, without payment. Without fair reward, our creative industries simply won't survive. The government must stand behind its creative industries. It's time to fairly compensate the creators. Read the Guardian view on AI and copyright here. --- 'MAKE IT FAIR' UK creative industries launch copyright fightback against global tech firms' AI Models Hundreds of news brand titles to run a campaign today as the government consultation ends The UK's creative industries have today launched a bold campaign to highlight how their content is at risk of being given away for free to AI firms as the government proposes weakening copyright law. A government consultation seeking views on the copyright issue closes today. The 'Make it Fair' campaign was developed to raise awareness among the British public about the existential threat posed to the creative industries from generative AI models, many of which scrape creative content from the internet without permission, acknowledgement, and critically, without payment. The impact on creative businesses and individuals throughout the country – who collectively generate over £120 billion a year towards the UK economy – will be devastating if this continues unchecked, or worse still if the government legitimises this content theft. On 25 February, which is the last day of the government's consultation, regional and national daily news brands are running the same cover wrap and homepage takeover. The campaign cover wrap states: 'MAKE IT FAIR: The government wants to change the UK's laws to favour big tech platforms so they can use British creative content to power their AI models without our permission or payment. Let's protect the creative industries – it's only fair.' Weekly titles will run the campaign throughout the next week, with the aim of appealing to the British public to write to their MPs and back the creative industries. Launching the campaign today, Owen Meredith, CEO of News Media Association, said: 'We already have gold-standard copyright laws in the UK. They have underpinned growth and job creation in the creative economy across the UK - supporting some of the world's greatest creators - artists, authors, journalists, scriptwriters, singers and songwriters to name but a few. 'And for a healthy democratic society, copyright is fundamental to publishers' ability to invest in trusted quality journalism. The only thing which needs affirming is that these laws also apply to AI, and transparency requirements should be introduced to allow creators to understand when their content is being used. Instead, the government proposes to weaken the law and essentially make it legal to steal content. 'There will be no AI innovation without the high-quality content that is the essential fuel for AI models. We're appealing to the great British public to get behind our 'Make it Fair' campaign and call on the government to guarantee creatives are able to secure proper financial reward from AI firms to ensure a sustainable future for both AI and the creative industries.' Launching a music industry campaign to coincide with the 'Make it Fair' campaign, Ed Newton- Rex said: '1,000 UK musicians released a joint album today, recordings of empty studios, calling on the government to change course or risk empty studios becoming the norm. The government's proposals would hand the life's work of the UK's talented creators - its musicians, its writers, its artists - to AI companies, for free. The government must change course and make it fair.' -Ends- Notes to editors: The Make it Fair campaign will have various spokespeople available for interview on the day. Please contact laura@ for more information. If you wish to get a copy of the artwork, please speak to paul@ The copyright consultation in short: On 17 December 2024, the UK government launched a consultation process on copyright and AI. The government is trying to decide whether to let tech companies use content without permission unless the creators specifically say 'no'. Creators argue this puts the burden on them to police their work – which would be both costly and time consuming – and that tech companies should pay for using their content and work. The UK creative industries, which includes artists, authors, journalists, illustrators, photographers, film makers, scriptwriters, singers and songwriters, generates around £120 billion a year towards the UK economy. As the government progresses towards an AI Bill, the government must take the consultation responses on board before making a final decision on proposed legislation. The Department of Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) is responsible for the bill. MPs are currently debating provisions added to the Data Bill which – in contrast to the government's plans – would make existing copyright law enforceable in the age of AI.
Yahoo
25-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Kate Bush leads UK musicians in 'silent album' AI fight
Over 1,000 musicians including Kate Bush, Annie Lennox and Damon Albarn on Tuesday released a silent album in protest at proposed changes to UK copyright law around artificial intelligence (AI) which they say will legalise music theft. "Is This What We Want" featuring recordings of empty studios and performance spaces is part of a growing backlash against the government's plans. Writers and musicians including Bush also denounced the proposals as a "wholesale giveaway" to Silicon Valley in a letter to The Times newspaper on Tuesday. Other signatories included Paul McCartney, Elton John, Ed Sheeran, Dua Lipa and Sting as well as writers Kazuo Ishiguro, Michael Morpurgo and Helen Fielding. In a very rare move, UK newspapers also highlighted their concerns launching a "Make it Fair" campaign featuring wrap round ads on the front of almost every national daily, with an inside editorial by the papers' editors. Prime Minister Keir Starmer's Labour government is considering overhauling the law to allow AI companies to use creators' content on the internet to help develop their models, unless rights holders opt out. But artists say opting out will be difficult and onerous. Album organiser Ed Newton-Rex said musicians were "united in their thorough condemnation of this ill-thought-through plan". "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," he said. "It is a plan that would not only be disastrous for musicians, but that is totally unnecessary. The UK can be leaders in AI without throwing our world-leading creative industries under the bus," he added. - 'Catastrophic' - The album's release was timed to coincide with the end of the government's public consultation on the proposed changes. Starmer has previously said the government needs to "get the balance right" with copyright and AI while noting the technology represented "a huge opportunity". Authors have also spoken out about the UK government's plans. Best selling US writer Scott Turow last week criticised the "cavalier attitude of the British government" which he said proposed to "allow big tech companies to scrape all of our books and repackage our words as 'original content'." "Instead of trying to prevent this, the British government wants to give them a free pass. That will be catastrophic, not just for writers in the UK, but all over the world," he wrote in the Daily Mail. In a rare interview last month, McCartney, 82, one of the two surviving members of The Beatles, told the BBC any new legislation had to protect creative thinkers and artists, warning "you're not going to have them" without that. "You get young guys, girls, coming up, and they write a beautiful song, and they don't own it, and they don't have anything to do with it. And anyone who wants can just rip it off," he said. "The truth is, the money's going somewhere ... Somebody's getting paid, so why shouldn't it be the guy who sat down and wrote 'Yesterday'?" In 2023, UK music contributed £7.6 billion to the UK economy, with exports of UK music reaching £4.6 billion. har/jkb/rl
The Independent
25-02-2025
- Business
- The Independent
UK newspapers launch campaign against AI copyright plans
Some of the UK's biggest newspapers have used a coordinated campaign across their front pages to raise their concerns about AI's impact on the creative industries. Special wraps appeared on Tuesday's editions of the Daily Express, Daily Mail, The Mirror, the Daily Star, The i, The Sun, and The Times – as well as a number of regional titles – criticising a Government consultation around possible exemptions being added to copyright law for training AI models. The proposals would allow tech firms to use copyrighted material from creatives and publishers without having to pay or gain a licence, or reimbursing creatives for using their work. In response, publishers have launched the Make It Fair campaign, which saw newspapers put covers on the outside of their front page – criticising the Government's consultation – organised by the News Media Association (NMA), and backed by the Society of Editors (SOE). The message said: 'The Government wants to change the UK's laws to favour big tech platforms so they can use British creative content to power their AI models without our permission or payment. Let's protect the creative industries – it's only fair.' It has been timed to coincide with the last day of the Government's consultation on Tuesday. Owen Meredith, chief executive of the NMA, said that 'copyright is fundamental to publishers' ability to invest in trusted quality journalism', and AI should be no different. He said: 'We're appealing to the great British public to get behind our Make it Fair campaign and call on the Government to guarantee creatives are able to secure proper financial reward from AI firms to ensure a sustainable future for both AI and the creative industries.' Dawn Alford, executive director of SOE, said the 'unprecedented and united action by publishers shows the strength of feeling around the Government's lack of support for the creative sector when it comes to AI'. In addition, the News Media Coalition (NMC), a not-for-profit organisation whose members include publishing houses, national and international news agencies, will make a written submission to the Government's consultation on Tuesday, warning of an existential threat to newsgathering and news operations from the unlicensed use of quality journalistic content by AI. The campaigns come alongside a protest from more than 1,000 musicians – including Kate Bush, Annie Lennox and Damon Albarn – who have released a joint silent album, featuring recordings of empty studios and recording spaces, meant to represent what will happen to human musicians if AI is allowed to use copyright works.
