An influential group of MPs are calling for new legislation around Artificial Intelligence (AI) in music to ensure the public are not duped by deepfakes or unknowingly listening to AI-generated music.
The call has been made in a new report published today (1 May) by the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Music. One of the largest APPGs in Westminster with more than 100 MPs and Peers making up its membership, it’s chaired by musician and senior Labour MP Kevin Brennan.
The report also includes the findings of a poll on AI conducted by UK Music, where more than 2,000 people were surveyed on a range of AI-related issues.
83% of respondents agreed that an artist’s creative 'personality' should be protected in law against being copied by AI, protecting both creators and consumers from the rise of deepfakes.
AI-generated music that fails to acknowledge the creator of the original music was deemed as theft by 77% of those polled, with four out of five people saying that the law should stop an artist’s music being used to train an AI application without their knowledge or permission.
On the release of the report, Kevin explained: ‘By leveraging the collective strength of policymakers, industry leaders and innovators we can ensure that AI serves as a catalyst for creativity, and progress in the music ecosystem, rather than an inhibitor of growth and a destroyer of creators’ livelihoods.'
He added that ‘the central insight must always be that AI has the potential to be a great servant but would be a terrible master’.
The cross-party group launched their inquiry earlier this year and held several evidence sessions before compiling the report Artificial Intelligence and the Music Industry – Master or Servant?.
These sessions brought together senior representatives from across the UK, EU and US to answer questions on the biggest opportunities and threats posed by AI to the music industry.
As a result of this research, the report makes eight key recommendations to the UK Government, including:
- Establish an ambitious UK AI Act, leading the way for the music industry to harness AI
- Ensure all AI-generated content is clearly labelled, so music fans can fairly decide if they want to consume AI-generated works
- Introduce a specific personality right to protect creators and artists from deepfakes, misappropriation and false endorsement
- Create a pro-creative industries international taskforce on AI
The APPG report also includes comment from PRS for Music, expanding on the idea that while AI holds great opportunity for music creators, it needs to be tempered with a focus on music rights.
‘The assumption that our collective musical history is merely another dataset for consumption by AI must be unequivocally opposed,’ the organisation added.
They also highlighted how transparency is essential, stating that tech firms must produce accessible information so that creators can make informed decisions about the use of their music, enforcing their rights when necessary.
‘Now more than ever, copyright’s core tenets of authorisation, and moral and economic rights, remain vital: after all, that is what it means to own one’s work.’
You can read the APPG’s full Artificial Intelligence and the Music Industry – Master or Servant? report now .
