Paul McCartney to Release Silent AI Protest Song After U.K. Relaxes Copyright Protections for Tech Firms

Legendary Beatles singer Paul McCartney will be releasing a silent music track next month in protest of the United Kingdom relaxing copyright protections for tech firms to push generative-AI.

McCartney will be joining musical titans Hanz Zimmer and Kate Bush for the protest album, titled Is This What We Want?, which will draw “attention to the damning impact on artists’ livelihoods controversial government proposals could cause,” the artists said in a statement.

“Called Bonus Track, it is a 2-minute 45-second recording of an empty studio featuring a series of clicks,” reported RTE. “More than 1,000 artists, including Annie Lennox, Damon Albarn and Jamiroquai, have collaborated on the silent album which was first released in February.”

The artists have alleged that a recent change in copyright law “would make it easier to train AI models on copyrighted work without a license”.

“Under the heavily criticized proposals, UK copyright law would be upended to benefit global tech giants. AI companies would be free to use an artist’s work to train their AI models without permission or remuneration,” the artists said, adding that changes “would require artists to proactively ‘opt-out’ from the theft of their work – reversing the very principle of copyright law.”

Only 1,000 copies of the vinyl album have been created. UK artists and musicians, including Elton John and Bush, have said the changes will enable tech firms to steal copyrighted work. Meanwhile, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said that generative-AI represents “a huge opportunity” that needs proper balancing.