Sir Keir Starmer said he wants “creatives to thrive” after artists including Sir Elton John and Sir Paul McCartney hit out against proposed changes around copyright law and artificial intelligence.
Musicians have warned that Government proposals to change UK copyright law to allow AI models to be more easily trained on copyrighted material would greatly damage the creative industries and see artists replaced by technology in the long term.
Under the proposals, an exemption to copyright would be created for training AI, so tech firms would not need a licence to use copyrighted material, and creators would need to opt out to prevent their work from being used.
Sir Elton described the UK’s creative sector as the “envy of the world” but said the plan risked giving away that position.
Former Beatle Sir Paul has warned AI could “rip off” artists.
