Paul McCartney has urged the British government to safeguard artists due to a proposed copyright law that could enable AI to “steal” from creators. In an interview with the BBC, McCartney raised concerns about a bill that would permit technology companies to train their AI systems on copyrighted material, including music, unless creators actively opted out. The iconic Beatle emphasized that such a change could have a detrimental effect on the careers of emerging artists. “There are young individuals coming up who write beautiful songs, yet they don’t own the rights to them. Anyone can just take their work without permission, ” McCartney stated during the interview. He added, “The reality is that money is being distributed somewhere. When music is streamed, someone earns from it, and it should go to the creators, not just a large tech corporation.

Someone is profiting from it. Why shouldn’t it be the person who wrote 'Yesterday'?” In December, a coalition of artists, publishers, media organizations, and others came together to establish the Creative Rights in AI Coalition, aiming to maintain existing copyright protections amidst the U. K. ’s ongoing engagement with AI technologies (excluding the kind of AI McCartney used on the Beatles’ “Now and Then”). “We are the people, and you are the government. Your role is to protect us, and if you’re pushing through a bill, be sure to safeguard creative thinkers and artists—otherwise, they will no longer exist. If there’s a government, it should be responsible for supporting young talent so that they can thrive and enrich the world with great art, ” McCartney expressed to lawmakers. Tom Kiehl, CEO of the music industry representative body UK Music, shared with the BBC that “The government's intentions to alter copyright laws to facilitate AI companies' use of artists’ music without consent poses a significant threat to the music industry. ”