Elton John described the government as \u201cabsolute losers\u201d and said he feels \u201cincredibly betrayed\u201d over plans to exempt technology firms from copyright laws.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Speaking exclusively to Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, he said if ministers go ahead with plans to allow AI firms to use artists\u2019 content without paying, they would be \u201ccommitting theft, thievery on a high scale\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This week the government rejected proposals from the House of Lords to force AI companies to disclose what material they were using to develop their programmes.
A government spokesperson said that \u201cno changes\u201d to copyright laws would be \u201cconsidered unless we are completely satisfied they work for creators\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Generative AI programmes mine, or learn, from vast amounts of data like text, images, or music online to generate new content which feels like it has been made by a human.
Sir Elton said the \u201cdanger\u201d is that, for young artists, \u201cthey haven\u2019t got the resources \u2026 to fight big tech [firms]\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s criminal, in that I feel incredibly betrayed,\u201d he added. \u201cThe House of Lords did a vote, and it was more than two to one in our favour,\u201d he said. \u201cThe government just looked at it as if to say, \u2018Hmm, well the old people \u2026 like me can afford it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Monday, the House of Lords voted by a 147 majority to amend the Data (Use and Access) Bill to add transparency requirements, which aim to ensure copyright holders have to give permission for their work to be used.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But on Wednesday MPs in the House of Commons voted to reject this change, meaning the bill will continue to go back and forth between the two Houses until they reach an agreement on it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sir Elton warned the government was on course to \u201crob young people of their legacy and their income\u201d, adding that he thought the government was \u201cjust being absolute losers, and I\u2019m very angry about it\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The singer said that Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer needed to \u201cwise up\u201d and described Technology Secretary Peter Kyle as \u201ca bit of a moron\u201d.
He said if the government does not change its plans, he would be ready to take ministers to court, saying that \u201cwe\u2019ll fight it all the way\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Speaking alongside the 78-year-old, playwright James Graham said ministers \u201cdo understand the value of creativity\u2026 but what\u2019s frustrating is either the complacency or the willingness to let Silicon Valley tech bros get it all their own way\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The chief executive of UK music, Tom Kiehl, told the BBC that the government is \u201con the brink\u201d of offering up the country\u2019s music industry \u201cas a sacrificial lamb in its efforts to cosy up to American-based tech giants\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He added that the prime minister \u201cmust not sell\u201d the next generation of singers, songwriters, musicians, and music creators \u201cdown the river and allow all that talent to be crushed by letting soulless AI bots plunder their work\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ahead of the vote in the House of Lords, Sir Elton joined more than 400 British musicians, writers, and artists in signing a letter calling on the prime minister to update copyright laws in a way that protects them from artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Beatles singer Sir Paul McCartney, who also signed the letter, previously told the BBC there was a risk AI would create a \u201cWild West\u201d in which artists\u2019 copyright was not properly protected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A government spokesperson said it wants the UK\u2019s creative industries and AI companies to \u201cflourish, which is why we\u2019re consulting on a package of measures that we hope will work for both sectors\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The spokesperson said it was \u201cvital\u201d the government worked through responses to a consultation on proposals to allow developers to use creators\u2019 content unless rights holders elected to \u201copt out\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They added that it was \u201cequally important that we put in the groundwork now as we consider the next steps\u201d. \u201cThat is why we have committed to publishing a report and economic impact assessment – exploring the broad range of issues and options on all sides of the debate.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Elton John described the government as \u201cabsolute losers\u201d and said he feels \u201cincredibly betrayed\u201d over plans to exempt technology firms from copyright laws.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":488081,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[688],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-488076","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-infotainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488076","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=488076"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488076\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/488081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=488076"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=488076"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=488076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}