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The world’s biggest music publisher has attacked UK Government plans to allow a copyright exemption for AI as ‘rushed, unbalanced and irreversible’, the Daily Mail can reveal.
Sony Music has insisted copyright should be protected as a ‘right, not a regulation’ – and a ‘necessary reward’ for creators and performers.
The company’s intervention comes after leading figures from the music world, including Sir Elton John, Sir Brian May, Lord Lloyd-Webber and Simon Cowell, have backed a Mail campaign against the Government’s move.
Britain’s creative industries are worth £126million and it is feared the change would allow AI to pillage creative works.
Current copyright laws stipulate that creators have automatic protection and should be compensated if it is found that their works have been stolen.
The Government opened a consultation in December and said it favours a response that grants AI firms a copyright exception.
But in a submission to ministers, seen by the Daily Mail, Sony said: ‘Copyright is a right, not a regulation, and a necessary societal reward for creating and investing in works that benefit society and enrich human life.’
Sony revealed it has requested more than 75,000 ‘AI deepfakes’ of published music be taken down. It went on: ‘AI-generated recordings in music streaming services result in direct commercial harm to legitimate recording artists, including UK artists.’
Sony, the world’s biggest music publisher, has attacked Labour plans to allow a copyright exemption for AI as ‘rushed, unbalanced and irreversible’
Music, TV, film and publishing bosses back the Mail’s campaign to stop Labour letting AI giants plunder their work for free
Big names to have backed the Mail’s campaign for protection against big tech include Sir Brian May, Simon Cowell and Sir Elton John (pictured)
The label said it feared the exemption could place a ‘vast new administrative burden’ on creators to ‘constantly defend their work online’. But it added: ‘Property owners should not have to proactively assert rights over every piece of their property in order not to have them expropriated.
‘To put it in another way, would Government require homeowners to tag all their possessions to be protected against burglary?’
The company also attacked the proposed change as ‘particularly counter-intuitive when the UK Government has identified the creative industries as one of eight “growth-driving sectors”’.
On Friday, the Daily Mail reported how copyright lawyer Nicholas Caddick KC suggested the Government’s plan may break the Berne Convention, which says that creators’ work is protected the moment it is written or recorded. But the Government said the convention does not make any specific provisions for the interaction of copyright law and artificial intelligence.
A Government spokesperson said: ‘The UK’s current regime for copyright and AI is holding back the creative industries, media and AI sectors – and that cannot continue. That’s why we have been consulting on a new approach that protects the interests of both AI developers and right holders and delivers a solution for both.’
They added: ‘No decisions will be taken until we are absolutely confident we have a practical plan that delivers each of our objectives, including increased control for right holders to help them easily license their content, enabling lawful access to material to train world-leading AI models in the UK, and building greater transparency over material being used.’
