Max Richter has spoken to UK MPs in two select committees to argue against UK government plans to allow artificial technology (AI) to be trained using copyrighted music.
Speaking to the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and Science, Innovation and Technology committees on Tuesday (February 4), he described the government’s proposals as “unfair and unworkable”, adding that they could be a death knell for “human creators”. While stating he is not completely against the use of AI, he said our current understanding of music creation could “fade into history unless we support creators’ rights”.
In a further Instagram post, Richter added: “A love song touches us because it was written by a person who knows what it means to fall in love; when we lose someone close to us, the funeral music touches us because its composer also felt the agony of grief, and this shaped the music they wrote; when a massive banger flood the dance floor with joyful people, it is because the artist who made it knows what joy feels like. Music is the closest thing humanity has to magic.”
He also shared a petition which aims to challenge the unlicensed use of music and other creative works for training AI, which you can find here. Thom Yorke, Kate Bush, Robert Smith and Billy Bragg are among the signatories.
