A Labour MP who has written for TV series including New Tricks said AI companies are committing ‘theft’ on an ‘industrial scale’, as she revealed her own work had been ‘scraped’.
Alison Hume is one of a number of Labour MPs raising concerns about the threat posed to creative industries by AI, amid accusations that the Government is pandering to tech giants.
Ministers are proposing that big tech companies be allowed to ignore traditional copyright rules when training their AI systems.
They are suggesting that creative organisations, including those in the music business and publishing, should have to register an opt out if they do not want their work exploited by such firms. At the moment their copyright is protected automatically.
Speaking in Parliament yesterday, Ms Hume said she had discovered this week that the subtitles from one of her episodes of BBC drama New Tricks had been used to help write scripts.
The Labour MP for Scarborough and Whitby told MPs: ‘Twice a year, I receive the royalties collected for me by the authors, licensing and collecting society.
‘I am paid fairly for my original work when it is rebroadcast around the world or on digital platforms.
Alison Hume is one of a number of Labour MPs raising concerns about the threat posed to creative industries by AI, amid accusations that the Government is pandering to tech giants
Technology Secretary Peter Kyle insisted the UK has an ability to support a ‘cutting-edge AI sector, with world-leading creative industries’.
‘This week, I discovered that the subtitles from one of my episodes of New Tricks have been scraped and are being used to create learning materials for artificial intelligence.
‘Along with thousands of other films and television shows, my original work is being used by generative AI to write scripts which one day may replace versions produced by mere humans like me.’
She added: ‘This is theft, and it’s happening on an industrial scale. As the law stands, artificial intelligence companies don’t have to be transparent about what they are stealing.’
She said to create quality scripts it needed to have ‘a human being at the wheel’, who is paid to produce something original.
The Labour MP added that the UK should ‘inspire the rest of the world to adopt high standards’ and that the country’s creative industries deserved ‘a dynamic licensing market which protects copyright’.
Another Labour MP warned that musicians could lose out ‘again’ if they are not protected by new rules around AI and copyright.
Beeban Kidron, who directed Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, believes the Government’s plans would result in a ‘wholesale’ shift of wealth from creative organisations to the technology industry
Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy. It comes as an award-winning film director said the Government’s consultation on how copyright law should apply to AI has been ‘fixed’ in favour of big tech
Anneliese Midgley said she had been ‘inundated’ with concerns about how this issue could impact on artists and song writers.
She said: ‘The music industry has long been structured in a way that exploits musicians. And streaming services have made this far worse. And now if AI copyright laws are not handled correctly, it’s our musicians who will once again lose out.’
Former Conservative culture secretary Sir John Whittingdale said Government plans for a data mining exception would ‘drive a coach and horses through copyright law’.
It comes as an award-winning film director said the Government’s consultation on how copyright law should apply to AI has been ‘fixed’ in favour of big tech.
Beeban Kidron, who directed Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, believes the Government’s plans would result in a ‘wholesale’ shift of wealth from creative organisations to the technology industry.
Baroness Kidron, who is a leading opponent of the plans, said the move was inconsistent with the Government’s talk about growth.
She told The Guardian: ‘We’ve got an open consultation but that consultation is fixed and inadequate.’
Labour suffered its first Parliamentary defeat in government recently when peers backed reforms to stop tech firms ignoring copyright rules.
Technology Secretary Peter Kyle insisted the UK has an ability to support a ‘cutting-edge AI sector, with world-leading creative industries’.
