UK icons slam AI ‘theft’ in fiery plea to Starmer before key vote

More than 400 prominent UK artists — including Paul McCartney, Elton John, and Dua Lipa — have called on Prime Minister Keir Starmer to strengthen copyright protections as the country prepares for a pivotal vote on artificial intelligence legislation next week.  

The open letter , also signed by cultural icons such as Kate Bush, Ian McKellen, and conductor Simon Rattle, warns that proposed legal changes would expose creators to “years of copyright theft.”

The letter, published Saturday, states:

We risk losing a tremendous opportunity for growth if we allow our work to be exploited by a few powerful overseas tech firms — along with the income that supports our creative future.

Open letter

UK musicians respond to the growing fears about AI copyright theft

The White House issued an Executive Order to secure global leadership in artificial intelligence. The directive reignited concerns over Big Tech’s largely unchecked access to vast troves of data — including copyrighted material from publishers, artists, and, more recently, members of the Hollywood creative community.

In the letter published recently, the UK musicians stated that they would lose their future revenue and a huge growth opportunity if they gave up their work at the whim of a few influential foreign tech companies.

The plea comes as the House of Lords readies to vote Monday on an amendment to the UK’s data bill. The amendment would force companies to inform copyright holders if their work has been used to train AI models. According to the signatories, the measure would help artists and companies hold AI developers accountable for the widespread, unauthorized use of creative works.

Meanwhile, the UK government proposes that AI companies should be able to train software on copyright-protected works without permission unless the rights holder opts out.

Ministers attempted to address the backlash by mandating an economic impact assessment and requiring reports on transparency and the practicality of the proposed “opt-out” system. However, the signatories have dismissed these measures as insufficient.

Miyazaki ignites a discussion about the impact of generative AI on copyright law

The advent of AI tools like ChatGPT — especially since OpenAI made its splash in the mainstream in 2023 — has started changing how people engage with the internet. Instead of searching for and discovering content in traditional ways, either through search engines or forums, they increasingly interact with AI interfaces that serve up curated responses — a trend that has given rise to concerns that the internet is becoming less of a space for open discovery and more of an environment of algorithmically mediated interaction.

On May 13, 2024, OpenAI introduced GPT-4o, a multimodal AI model capable of processing and responding to text, audio, and visual inputs in real-time. While image generation remains a separate function—handled by tools like DALL·E —some users have used AI to create visuals in the distinctive style of Studio Ghibli, the iconic animation studio co-founded by Hayao Miyazaki. This trend has sparked debate among fans, some of whom argue that mimicking Ghibli’s unique aesthetic using AI could be seen as disrespectful to the studio’s artistic legacy.

In addition, Miyazaki commented on this, revealing that he had been a strong opponent of AI-generated art, calling it “an insult to life itself.” To further illustrate, he underlined that human emotions and pain, two essential components of genuine artistic expression, AI could not understand.

According to Miyazaki, AI art was anti-human and soulless, undermining Ghibli’s artwork’s emotional depth and narratives. This event heightened the heated debate over the impact of generative AI on copyright law.

Furthermore, numerous lawsuits against AI companies resulted from the uncertainty surrounding the authorship and ownership of works AI-generated. At least 30 significant copyright cases regarding copyright infringement were filed against generative AI companies as of the end of 2024.

Although there had been no resolution to these lawsuits, they have prompted solutions like Nightshade and Glaze to take proactive steps to safeguard artists’ property. In 2024, Nightshade had 2.2 million downloads, while Glaze had 6.6 million since March 2023.

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