More than a thousand musicians have come together to release a silent album to protest proposed changes to British copyright law that would allow companies to use artists' work to train artificial intelligence models without their permission, TechSpot reports.
The album, titled "Is This What We Want?", features recordings from empty studios and concert venues. Among the musicians who contributed to the album are Tori Amos, Billy Ocean, The Clash, Damon Albarn of Blur/Gorillaz and Annie Lennox. Organizers say the album is a symbolic gesture that reflects the potential impact on artists' livelihoods and creativity in general if the government implements its plans for legislative changes.
The UK government has put forward a proposal that would allow artificial intelligence companies to train their models on any material they have legal access to.
Ed Newton-Rex, a British composer and former head of the AI company behind the album, said: "The government's proposal would hand the life's work of the country's musicians to AI companies, for free, letting those companies exploit musicians' work to outcompete them."
The album is now available on Spotify, with all proceeds going to Help Musicians, a British charity that supports current and former musicians.
In response to the album's release, a British government spokesman said that current copyright and AI laws were restricting the creative industries, media and AI sectors from "realising their full potential."