As the conversation about AI's impact on the music industry and creatives continues, industry leaders have outlined what needs to be done to safeguard artists and drive forward the creative forces in the UK. This was discussed at the Beyond The Music Festival where an AI summit held principles based on 'art is a human right' and creators should receive credit and payment for their work.
These principles are intended as the first of its kind, aligning creators, rights holders, tech platforms, AI labs, and policymakers on how to regulate generative AI. Speaking at Beyond The Music, Mayor of Greater Manchester Bev Craig said: 'When we talk about what the Manchester Principles mean and why you're here, it's thinking about how we start that conversation... How does economic change and technological progress lead into social change? What are the things that we need to demand that can make our world better, safer, and protect creativity?'
The summit agreed upon key objectives such as licensing and consent for human-created works used in AI models, ensuring provenance and tracking of creative works and data usage, and attributing and equitably compensating creators whose work influences or feeds into AI-generated output. With the UK at the forefront of this new industrial revolution, MP Ian Murray pointed out that 66% of music creators believe AI poses a direct threat. He emphasized the importance of not choosing between embracing innovation and protecting their rights while pushing towards the UK being 'the safest place to develop and adopt AI technology in the world.' Clive Dickens, founder of Absolute Radio and CEO of The Meliora Company, argued for adopting an inclusive view on AI as a human right akin to water or power.
He noted that under 2 billion people use artificial intelligence weekly today, and this trend is growing exponentially. He suggested future models be termed 'Fair GPT' emphasizing fair governance, regulation, trust, and setting up safeguards against bad AI, advocating for a new definition of 'GPT.' Overall, the summit highlighted the need to regulate AI fairly and adopt policies that ensure ethical development and adoption of the technology globally.