We have all seen science-fiction films in which machines or super-intelligent life forms descend upon earth and colonise human beings. The idea of alien life supplanting humanity has been a subject for fantasy writers since the time of HG Wells and his 1898 masterpiece The War of the Worlds.
Today, the prospect of AI wiping out the human race is real. At the end of last year, Geoffrey Hinton, a Nobel Prize-winning computer scientist who has been called the “godfather of AI”, said there was a “10 per cent to 20 per cent” chance that AI would extinguish humanity in the next 30 years.
Beyond the drama of human extinction, AI poses more immediate problems. The Government’s proposed changes to UK copyright law threaten the livelihoods of our creative talent, as well as the viability of the arts themselves.
The Government, by way of legal changes, wishes to make it easier for AI companies to effectively raid and exploit creative content without its original creator’s permission – free of charge. Corporate behemoths, who have emerged so quickly to dominate the AI space, are licking their lips at the prospect of ripping off high-quality content – the books, music, photography, scripts and art which their makers have poured their skills into – for free.
This situation would inevitably lead to a point where writers and creators would not have any incentive to produce the great and inspiring work for which Britain has become famous. Why even bother working, effectively for free, merely to enrich powerful and impersonal corporate interests?
This is exactly the opposite of why people work in the creative industries in the first place. Writers and other artists want to express their individual creativity and, if at all possible, make a living from their efforts. They do not create their work for the purpose of enriching giant corporations, without any material benefit whatsoever to themselves.
For a government that has gambled its future on the push for growth, any move to provide free access to artistic content would be self-defeating. The creative industries contribute an estimated £125bn to the UK economy last year and employ 2.4 million people. They also constitute an enduring source of soft power for the United Kingdom.
To impair this source of revenue and employment seems foolhardy. This is precisely, however, what the change to the copyright law will threaten.
I yield to nobody in my support for free enterprise and the ability of firms to make profits. Capitalism, if we must use this loaded word, is a good thing. It creates wealth and allows individuals to improve their lives by their own efforts and skills.
However, the rights of creative people, of artists and writers, must also be protected. Their work is derived just as much from individual talent, creativity and industry as the tech bros and billionaires who are often venerated as deities in today’s world.
Under the proposals, AI firms will be able to exploit artists’ work for free. The imbalance here is very striking. It is notoriously difficult to make money in the creative arts. By contrast, the valuations of some AI firms are enormous.
Yet, remarkably, proposed changes in the law will favour these already cash-rich companies to the detriment of people working in the arts.
The Government, which professes to help the weak, is actually making the powerful even stronger. It is as if the Government actively wants Goliath to crush David. It simply makes no sense for any British government which seeks to promote the arts to allow AI companies to act in this way.
Many people are now urging the Government to change course. It is true that many of those voices are from the creative industries themselves. “They would say that, wouldn’t they?”, is an easy accusation to make. But this issue is far wider than the self-interest of a particular sector, or particular individuals.
The national interest is clearly involved in questions concerning copyright and intellectual property. Britain’s brand and much of its wealth are associated with our creative output. It is very strange that a government would want to undermine this source of national prosperity.
The golden goose must be protected from the hands of a government that does not seem to be aware of the damage it would cause.
Kwasi Kwarteng is a former Conservative MP. He served as chancellor between September and October 2022 under Liz Truss
Comments
Leave a Comment