Ex-Beatle Paul McCartney called on Sunday, January 26, for the British government to do better “protect” artists against artificial intelligence (AI), at a time when the executive is considering copyright reform, saying it fears that musicians will be “to strip”.
Interviewed on the BBC, the 82-year-old star once again criticized the Labor government's plan to introduce changes to copyright law. Among them, “an exception to copyright” to train AI models for commercial purposes. At the same time, the project would offer creators the possibility of “reserve their rights”.
Paul McCartney argues that with such reform, artists will lose control over their production. Concretely, he assures, “young people will write a beautiful song but they will not own it”. Pire, “anyone can make it their own”he denounces. “The truth is the money will go somewhere. Someone will get paid so why shouldn't it be the guy who wrote Yesterday ?”he asked.
And to add: “if you introduce a bill, make sure you protect thinkers and artists, otherwise you won't have them on your side”. “We are the people, you are the government. You are supposed to protect us. It's your job”he said again.
The government said it would use its consultation, which runs until February 25, to explore the main points of the debate, including how creators will be able to license and be paid for the use of their material.
-Asked about these projects during an interview on the BBC, the Minister of Finance, Rachel Reeves, assured “want to support artists” and do everything “so that copyright is respected”. And to add that “Without rigorous and robust copyright protection…the UK's place on the world stage, as a leader in the arts and popular culture, will be under serious threat.” In November 2023, McCartney and Ringo Starr, the surviving members of the Beatles, used AI to extract John Lennon's vocals from a decades-old unfinished song called Now and Then.
“I think AI is great and can do a lot of great things.”nuanced Paul McCartney. However, she “must not rob creators. It makes no sense”.
Same tone from another pop legend, Elton John. In the columns of Sunday Timesthe 77-year-old artist believes that the government's reform project “will dilute” et “will threaten” even more the income of young artists. “This will allow large global technology companies to freely and easily access artists’ works in order to train their artificial intelligence and create competing music”he assured. He claims that all “the players in the world of music are categorically opposed” to reform.
