British creatives are voicing their opposition to the government’s proposed amendments to copyright law. A notable example is the release of a protest album titled Is This What We Want? by over 1,000 musicians, including Kate Bush, Annie Lennox, and Ben Howard.

Under the current regulations, AI developers are required to adhere to the same copyright laws as everyone else, which means they cannot use creative materials for training models without permission. However, the proposed December 2024 proposal would grant them a copyright exemption, requiring creatives to “opt out” of having their materials used. The government is accepting views on the proposed change until Tuesday, February 25.

According to the release statement, “The musicians on this album came together to protest this proposal.” The album features recordings of empty studios and performance spaces, symbolizing the potential impact of the government’s proposals on musicians’ livelihoods.

The album consists of 12 tracks, with song titles that collectively spell out “The British government must not legalise music theft to benefit AI companies.” The album’s profits will be donated to the UK-based charity Help Musicians.

On the same day, the UK News Media Association and publications such as The Guardian expressed their opposition to the proposed copyright exemption through the Make It Fair campaign. The campaign argues, “The creative works of British artists, authors, journalists, illustrators, photographers, filmmakers, scriptwriters, singers, and songwriters are being scraped from the internet by tech companies to build and maintain AI products that have the potential to reshape our world.” It emphasizes that “without fair reward, our creative industries simply won’t survive,” and urges the government to “stand behind its creative industries” and “fairly compensate the creators.”

On Monday, a group of creatives wrote an open letter to The Times to express their protest. The letter states, “There is no moral or economic argument for stealing our copyright. Taking it away will devastate the industry and steal the future of the next generation.” The signatories include prominent figures such as Paul McCartney, Elton John, Dua Lipa, Helen Fielding, and Ed Sheeran.