DACS joins creative titans and industry leaders to urge the Prime Minister to support UK creativity and economic growth by enforcing copyright law
More than 400 artists, authors, musicians, actors, and creative industry leaders - including Elton John, Dua Lipa, Rachel Whiteread, Antony Gormley, Ian McKellen and Kazuo Ishiguro - have written to the Prime Minister, urging the Government to support proposals that would protect copyright in the age of AI.
This appeal comes ahead of a crucial vote on the Data (Use and Access) Bill in the House of Lords on Monday 12 May.
DACS CEO Christian Zimmermann is among the prominent signatories which includes leaders from across the creative industries. The letter warns:
We will lose an immense growth opportunity if we give our work away at the behest of a handful of powerful overseas tech companies — and with it, our future income, the UK’s position as a creative powerhouse, and any hope that the technology of daily life will embody the values and laws of the United Kingdom.
The letter calls on Sir Keir Starmer to support an amendment to the Bill tabled by Baroness Kidron, which would provide urgently needed transparency around the copyrighted works used to train AI models. This transparency would allow creators and creative businesses to hold AI firms accountable for the ongoing, large-scale unauthorised use of creative content.
The amendments, debated in the House of Lords, have already gained broad cross-party support. They propose that AI companies be required to disclose which individual works they have ingested. Transparency requirements would make it far riskier for AI firms to continue infringing on creators’ rights.
As part of our mission to support visual artists, DACS continues to actively campaign for the protection of artists’ rights. In recent months, we have responded to the government’s consultation on copyright and AI, held meetings with MPs and policymakers, and worked closely with the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Visual Arts and Artists to highlight the key challenges and opportunities facing creators and to make the case for targeted investment in the sector.