London — LONDON (AP) – Paul McCartney has called on the British government not to change copyright laws that would allow artificial intelligence companies to rip off artists.
The government is consulting on whether to allow technology companies to use copyrighted material to train artificial intelligence models unless the creator explicitly opts out.
Mr McCartney told the BBC that this would weaken Britain’s creative industries by making it harder for artists to control their work.
“Young men and women come together and they write beautiful songs, but they don’t own it and have nothing to do with it. And anyone who wants can steal it. I can,” the 82-year-old former Beatle said in an interview that will air Sunday. Excerpts were published by the BBC on Saturday.
“The truth is, the money is going somewhere. When it comes out on a streaming platform, someone is getting it, and it has to be the person who created it. It can’t be some big tech company.”
Britain’s centre-left Labor government says it wants to make Britain a world leader in AI. In December, the Copyright Act “enables creators and rights holders to control the use of their works for AI training and seek remuneration,” while also “giving AI developers easy access to a wide range of content.” announced a consultation to make this possible. Provide high quality creative content. ”
Publishers, artist organizations, and media companies, including the Associated Press, have united in the Creative Rights in AI Coalition to oppose the weakening of copyright protections.
“We are the people and you are the government. You are supposed to protect us. That is your job,” McCartney said. “So if you’re going to introduce a bill, make sure you protect creative thinkers and creative artists. If you don’t, you’re not going to protect them.”
