Just when you thought I was done talking about the war between AI and creativity, I rise from the ashes and find a way to always come back. Because if AI can persist over the years and grow stronger despite the backlash it faces from workers and protestors alike, then why can’t we?
Especially when popular celebrities of the likes of Elton John, Kate Bush, Dua Lipa or my personal favourite, Paul McCartney throw themselves into this silent battlefield. As over 400 of them hold up the flag of creativity high up in the sky for the whole nation to see, unsheathing their pens as if they were swords to plunge their way to the heart of the UK prime minister, Keir Starmer.
Not as an act of violence or conquest, but one more akin to a loud and desperate plea-
To protect their hard work from the clutches of copyright infringement, from the growing threat of AI.
To keep the lifeblood of the numerous professions (aka copyright) in such an industry fresh and boiling under the kingdom’s inky veins and tendrils
To ensure that their 2.4 million artsy citizens from all parts of the world get their share of the revenue valued at £108 billion per year from the entertainment industry. And yes, you read that right. That’s 108,000 times more than a million GBP per year from the entertainment industry. Pretty neat, right?
Well, as Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason’s film director and author of the aforementioned amendment letter, Beeban Kidron puts it –
“We urge you to vote in support of the UK creative industries. Supporting us supports the creators of the future. Our work is not yours to give away.”
The profound message behind their craft is echoed in the empty studios and performance spaces that several of these musicians compiled and collaborated on together. For me, this was the part of the protests against AI that hit home, as all I could see after watching these events unfold was an empty battlefield. A barren wasteland – strewn with rustic guitars, trampled hearts and the echoes of the songs and cries of an artist I’ve known from long ago.
As the title of this collective union states more poignantly than I ever could-
To all the media consumers and government officials….
To the simple folk standing against our ways
Is this what we want?
