Cameron Mackintosh Speaks Out Against UK Government AI Copyright Law Proposal

Cameron Mackintosh is the latest to speak out about the use of AI in the arts, with a piece he wrote for The Times.  As BroadwayWorld reported last week, a proposal was made by the UK government to change laws that will strip creators of copyright protection amidst the use of AI. The change to this law would reportedly allow AI companies to use creators' works as training data for their models without consent or payment. 

Andrew Lloyd Webber and his son, Alastair Webber, spoke out about this proposal, among other creators. Now, Mackintosh has added his thoughts to the mix.

"The UK no longer has many industries that are truly world-beating and increasing in value, so it would be an idiotic and undemocratic own goal to cripple one of the very few professions where people from any background or race, poor or rich, can succeed," he writes.

He goes on to note that, "Indeed our industry is one of the biggest growing contributors to the British economy. Instead of campaigning on behalf of AI, surely the government should be at the forefront of the urgent need to find the best way to ensure it is developed both safely and fairly in the interests of all of us."

Mackintosh believes that, if this new law takes effect, people will be discouraged from creating art or 

"So who will be encouraged to create or bother to buy? With the likelihood that, in the not too distant future, people will be underemployed as they are replaced by machines, in exchange for some sort of basic income, what are they going to do with their spare time if the arts and entertainment don’t continue to flourish? This is a watershed moment for the government to make the right decision for the future not only of our country, but of humanity.