Sunak urged to consider musicians’ rights at AI summit

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has been asked to address the music industry’s concerns around rapid developments in the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) during a forthcoming AI Safety Summit.

UK Music Interim Chief Executive Tom Kiehl called on Sunak to ensure the two-day event, beginning tomorrow (1 November) at Bletchley Park, Buckinghamshire, discusses ways to protect music creators and the sector’s “fragile” talent pipeline.

UK Music is among the organisations leading industry-wide calls calls for government to regulate the use of AI advancements to safeguard both musicians and the music industry.

READ MORE:

Last week, the Prime Minister made a speech in which he said “the UK’s answer is not to rush to regulate” AI.

It is understood the impact of AI on the music industry is not explicitly on the agenda of the summit.

In his letter to Sunak, Kiehl asked that “any outcomes from the summit and future discussions align with policy solutions to address our music industry’s concerns regarding the future regulatory landscape for AI”.

“While we understand the need to look at the coming opportunities and threats that AI poses, there is an urgent need to address the clear and present threat that generative AI poses to the creative industries and to our members’ livelihoods,” he continued.

“The government has rightly identified the creative industries as one of its five key industries that will drive the UK’s economic growth. To realise this ambition the music sector must be enabled by government to grow in tandem with AI without the risk of any negative impact on our sector.”

Consent and transparency

In his letter, Kiehl said government must uphold two key principles of consent and transparency at a domestic and international level.

Issues around consent surround a process referred to as music laundering, which sees AI machines use creative materials without the consent of the creative or rightsholder, leading to them going without payment for the use of their work.

Kiehl writes that “as a general principle, the use of music during the ingestion process (in the past, present and future) should always require permission from the creator and the rightsholder”.

“Failure to ensure this basic human right will jeopardise thousands of UK jobs and threaten the fragile talent pipeline on which the music industry relies to nurture the music professionals who are the envy of the world,” he continued.

On the topic of transparency, Kiehl called for AI platform providers to keep auditable records of the music used to train a machine before an algorithm generates new music and for music generated by AI to be labelled as such to “protect the consumer from confusion”.

“It is vital for consumers, artists, and commercial businesses alike for AI platform providers to operate in compliance with the transparency principle,” he added.

Kiehl’s calls for consent and transparency mirror some of the recommendations made by the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee on the future use of AI technology, published in August.

The cross-party group of MPs called on government to scrap a proposed AI copyright exemption, ensure transparency, recourse and redress for creatives if AI developers wrongfully use their works and to “regain the trust” of the creative industries.

In response, government said it has “been listening to stakeholders” on text and data mining intellectual property for commercial benefit.

'Golden opportunity'

Speaking ahead of the summit Caroline Dinenage, Chair of the Culture Media and Sport Select Committee, said the event provides a "golden opportunity for the government to signal that it is firmly on the side of creatives".

"After past missteps, the government must seize the chance to show that it is serious about developing a copyright and regulatory regime with proper protections from AI in order to regain the trust of the arts and cultural sector," she said.

"It must also show that it is properly supporting the sector to make the most of new technology to allow the UK to fulfil its potential as a creative industry superpower on the world stage.”