The British government is pushing forward with plans to attract more AI businesses to the region through changes to copyright legislation that will enable developers to train AI models on the content of artists on the Internet – without permission or payment – unless creators proactively “act.” However, not everyone marches to the same partner.

Monday a group of 1,000 musicians released a ‘silent album’ the planned changes. The album – entitled “Is that what we want?” – contains, among other things, Kate Bush, Imogen Heap and contemporary classical composers Max Richter and Thomas Hewitt Jones. It also contains co-writing credits of Hundreds of moreIncluding big names like Annie Lennox, Damon Albarn, Billy Ocean, The Clash, Mystery Jets, Yusuf / Cat Stevens, Riz Ahmed, Tori Amos and Hans Zimmer.

But this is not Band Aid Part 2. And it’s not a collection of music. Instead, the artists have compiled recordings of empty studios and execution spaces – a symbolic representation of what they believe will be the impact of planned copyright legislation.

“You can hear my cats moving around,” is how Hewitt Jones described his contribution to the album. “I have two cats in my studio that bothers me all day when I work.”

Putting an even more blunt point on it is the titles of the 12 tracks that make up the album, set out a message: “The British government should not make music thief theft to benefit AI businesses.”

The album is just the latest move in the UK to address the issue of how copyright in AI training is handled. Similar protests is on the way In other markets, such as the US, a global concern among artists emphasizes.

Ed Newton-Rex, who organized the project, at the same time led a larger campaign against AI training without licensing. A petition He is now beginning to sign by more than 47,000 writers, visual artists, actors and others in the creative industries, with nearly 10,000 of those who have reported over the past five weeks since the British government has announced its major AI strategy.

Newton-Rex said it has also been running a non-profit organization in AI over the past year, where we have certified companies that are basically not scraping and practicing on a good job without permission. ‘

Newton-Rex showed up to advocate artists after beating for both sides. He is classically trained as a composer and later built an AI-based musical composition platform named Jukedeck that makes people bypass with the help of copyright works by creating their own. The poignant pitch, where he clapped and directed the virtues of using AI to write music, won the TechCrunch Startup Battlefield competition in 2015. Jukedeck was eventually obtained by Tiktok, where he worked on music services for some time.

After a few years at other technical companies such as Snap and Stability, Newton-Rex is again considering how to build the future without burning the past. He is considering the idea from a very interesting vantage point: He now lives in the Bay area with woman Alice Newton-Rex, VP of the product at WhatsApp.

The album release comes just before the planned changes to the copyright legislation in the UK, which will force artists who do not want their work for AI training purposes to be used proactively ‘.

Newton-Rex thinks it effectively creates a losing-lost situation for artists, as there is no opt-out method, or any clear way to be able to detect which specific material fed into any AI system is.

“We know that opt-out schemes are just not recorded,” he said. ‘It will only give 90% (to) 95% of people’s work to AI businesses. It is without a doubt. “

The solution, says the artists, is to produce work in other markets where there can be better protection for it. Hewitt Jones-who threw a working keyboard into a port in Kent during a personal protest march not long ago (he broke it after that)-said he was considering markets like Switzerland in the future.

But the rock and a hard place of a port in Kent is nothing compared to the wild west of the internet.

‘We’ve been told for decades to share our work online because it’s good for exposure. But now AI businesses and incredible, governments turn around and say, “Well, you put it online for free …” Newton-Rex said. ‘Now artists just stop doing and share their work. A number of artists contacted me to say that is what they do. “

The album will be placed on music platforms at some point on Tuesday, the organizers said, and any donations or yields from playing it will go to the charities.