AI tech giants should not be subsidised by British creatives, Starmer signals
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Tech giants should not get a subsidy off the back of British creative industries, the Prime Minister signalled. Sir Keir Starmer was grilled about proposals to regulate artificial intelligence’s (AI) impact on copyright as he faced questions from a committee of senior MPs.
The Government is currently consulting on plans which could allow AI firms to scrape media companies content, unless they specifically opt out. AI companies have scraped the internet of books, of films, of music, all created by others, without permission. It is effective the largest heist of copyright in world history.
The Prime Minister denied the Government’s proposals were akin to allowing a burglar to steal belongings. Dame Caroline Dinenage, the Conservative chairwoman of the Culture, Media and Sport Committee warned the Prime Minister he was “gambling a world-class British success story” of the creative industries.
She told the Liaison Committee of senior MPs: “The creative industries are worth £125 billion to our economy, they fly our flag around the world and you are gambling them in favour of companies that are already so rich that your own Secretary of State said we need to treat them like nation states.
“Why should these overseas tech giants effectively get a free subsidy on the back of British creatives?”. Sir Keir replied: “I don’t think they should, I think we need to get the balance right, but I also think we have a huge opportunity. “We are one of the top three in the world in AI at the very point where AI is going to be transformative.
