The UK government is moving forward with plans to attract more AI companies to the region by changing copyright laws. The proposed changes will allow developers to train AI models with content found online without permission or payment, unless the creator actively “opt-out”. But not everyone is marching on the same beat.
On Monday, a group of 1,000 musicians released a “silent album” to protest the planned changes. Album – entitled “Is This What We Want?” – features tracks by Kate Bush, Imogen Heap, modern classical composers Max Richter and Thomas Hewitt-Jones. It also features hundreds of more co-authored credits including Annie Lennox, Damon Albern, Billy Ocean, Clash, Mystery Jets, Yousuf/Cat Stevens, Liz Ahmed, Tori Amos and Hans Zimmer. I’m here.
But this is not Band-Aid Part 2. And it’s not a collection of music. Instead, the artist put together recordings of empty studios and performance spaces. This is a symbolic representation of what we believe is the impact of planned changes to copyright law.
“You can hear my cat moving around,” is how Hewitt Jones explained his contribution to the album. “There are two cats in the studio.
To put a further blunt point, the title of the 12 tracks that make up the album is “The UK government should not legalize music theft to benefit AI companies,” and listen to it yourself here. can.
The album is the latest move in the UK to focus attention on the question of how copyright is handled in AI training. Similar protests are underway in other markets like the US, highlighting global concern among artists.
Ed Newton Rex, who organized the project, is simultaneously leading a bigger campaign against AI training without a license. The petition he launched is currently signed by more than 47,000 writers, visual artists, actors and other other creative industries petitions, and has been in the past five since the UK government announced its big AI strategy. We sign up to nearly 10,000 people a week.
“Last year we run nonprofits on AI, and we certify businesses that don’t train or train great jobs without permission,” Newton-Rex said.
Newton Rex arrived to defend the artist after hitting for both sides. Classically trained as a composer, he built an AI-based music composition platform, later called Jukedeck, and can be bypassed using his own works using copyrighted works. He was a catchy pitch where he rapped and riffed on winning the TechCrunch startup battlefield competition in 2015, and Jukedeck was eventually bought by Tiktok, where he worked for music services for a while.
A few years after other tech companies like Snap and Stability, Newton-Rex has returned to considering ways to build a future without burning the past. He comes up with the idea from a very interesting vantage point. He currently lives in the Bay Area with his wife, Alice Newton Rex, who is the vice president of product at WhatsApp.
The album’s release is just before planned changes to UK copyright law. This will actively “opt out” artists who do not want to use their work for AI training purposes.
Newton-Rex has no opt-out methods in place, or there is a clear way to track what specific material is being supplied to AI systems, so this effectively makes the artists lose situations more effective. I think I’ll create it.
“I know that the opt-out scheme hasn’t been featured,” he said. “This just gives you 90% [to] 95% of people’s jobs for AI companies. That’s definitely. ”
The solution is to produce the work in other markets where there may be better protection, according to the artist. Hewitt Jones threw a keyboard of work into the port of Kent in the future protest (he fished it, broke) – and is considering markets like Switzerland to distribute music in the future I stated.
But the rocks and hard places in Kent’s port are nothing compared to the wild west of the Internet.
“We’ve been told to share our work online for decades. But now, AI companies and incredible governments look back and say, “Well, you’re going to do it.” I put it in for free online…” Newton Rex said. “So now artists are stopping to create and share their work. A lot of artists have contacted me and told me this is what they’re doing.”
The album will be widely posted on the music platform on Tuesday, organizers said, and donations and proceeds from playing it will go to charity help musicians.
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