Paul McCartney Calls on British Government to ‘Protect’ Artists From AI in New Interview

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Paul McCartney called on the British government to protect artists in the face of a new copyright law that could allow for AI to “rip off” creators.

Speaking to the BBC, McCartney warned of the bill that would let tech firms train their AI models on copyrighted works — including music — unless the artists explicitly opted out. The Beatles legend said the change, if approved, could severely impact young artists’ career.

“You get young guys and girls coming up, and they write a beautiful song, and they don’t own it. They don’t have anything to do with it, and anyone who wants can just rip it off,” McCartney told the BBC.

“The truth is, the money’s going somewhere. When it gets on the streaming platforms, somebody’s getting [the money], and it should be the person who created it. It shouldn’t just be some tech giant somewhere. Somebody’s getting paid. Why shouldn’t it be the guy who sat down and wrote ‘Yesterday’?”

In December, artists, publishers, media companies and more banded together to form the Creative Rights in AI Coalition, which aims to keep the current copyright protections in place despite the U.K.’s continued courtship of AI technology (and not the kind of AI that McCartney himself employed on the Beatles’ “Now and Then”).

“We’re the people, you’re the government. You’re supposed to protect us. That’s your job,” McCartney said to lawmakers in the interview. “So if you’re putting through a bill, make sure you protect the creative thinkers, the creative artists, or you’re not gonna have them. If there’s such a thing as a government, it’s their responsibility — I would think — to protect young people to try and enhance that whole thing so it works. So that these people have got job and can enhance the world with wonderful art.”

Tom Kiehl, chief executive of music industry body UK Music, told the BBC, “Government plans to change copyright law to make it easier for AI firms to use the music of artists, composers and music companies without their permission put the music industry at a huge risk.”