Paul McCartney has cautioned that if a planned revision to UK copyright law is approved, AI may “rip off” musicians, reports RTE.
He told the BBC that the plans would cause a “loss of creativity” by taking away the motivation for authors and artists.
A government consultation was recently initiated to address the usage of copyrighted content to train AI models, reports RTE.
One of the Beatles’ two remaining members, McCartney, informed the broadcaster: “You get young men, 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. The truth is, the money’s going somewhere… Somebody’s getting paid, so why shouldn’t it be the man who sat down and wrote Yesterday?” reports RTE.
Around the world, there is disagreement over whether it is appropriate and just to use copyrighted content to train the models that drive the latest AI tools. As a result, businesses and individuals in the creative sector have filed lawsuits over what they claim is unlicensed use of their content.
To enable AI companies to utilise their content to train their models, several media outlets and publishing houses, on the other hand, have entered into license agreements, reports RTE.
According to the UK government, the consultation, which is scheduled to end on February 25th, will be used to examine important issues in the discussion, such as how to increase confidence between the creative and AI sectors and how authors may provide licenses for the use of their work.
Appealing to the government to rethink its plans, 82-year-old McCartney said: “We’re the people, you’re the government. You’re supposed to protect us. That’s your job. So, you know, if you’re putting through a bill, make sure you protect the creative thinkers, the creative artists, or you’re not going to have them,” reports RTE.
Using AI technology to extract John Lennon’s voice from a 1977 home demo, surviving bandmates McCartney and Ringo Starr composed the song “Now And Then” in November 2023.
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said last year: “This Government firmly believes that our musicians, writers, artists and other creatives should have the ability to know and control how their content is used by AI firms and be able to seek licensing deals and fair payment. Achieving this, and ensuring legal certainty, will help our creative and AI sectors grow and innovate together in partnership,” reports RTE.
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