London:

Two of Britain’s leading music icons, Elton John and Paul McCartney, urged the UK government on Sunday to protect creative artists from AI, as ministers consult on changing copyright laws. 

Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government is considering overhauling the law to allow AI developers to use creators’ content online to help develop their models, unless rights holders opt out.

The mooted changes could see technology companies permitted to use material that is available online without respecting copyright if they are using it for text or data mining.

But critics, including pop music legends John and McCartney, question how artists will opt out from all of the many different AI firms’ generative programmes or monitor what has happened to their work online.

The “wheels are in motion to allow AI companies to ride roughshod over the traditional copyright laws that protect artists’ livelihoods,” John told The Sunday Times.

“This will allow global big tech companies to gain free and easy access to artists’ work in order to train their artificial intelligence and create competing music.”

The 77-year-old behind hits including “Rocket Man” and “Tiny Dancer” warned this will “dilute and threaten young artists’ earnings” and that “the musician community rejects it wholeheartedly”.

The government has said it will use its consultation running until February 25 to explore key points of the debate including how creators can license and be remunerated for the use of their material.

‘Loss of creativity’

Starmer has previously said the government needs to “get the balance right” with copyright and AI while noting the tech represented “a huge opportunity”.

Asked about the plans in a BBC interview Sunday, finance minister Rachel Reeves insisted “we want to support artists”. 

McCartney, 82 — one of the two surviving members of The Beatles — echoed fears that the plans could dampen the incentive for writers and artists to create new material and result in a “loss of creativity”.

In a rare interview, he told the BBC any new legislation regarding copyright must “protect the creative thinkers, the creative artists”, warning “you’re not going to have them” without that.

“You get young guys, girls, coming up, and they write a beautiful song, and they don’t own it, and they don’t have anything to do with it. And anyone who wants can just rip it off,” he said.

“The truth is, the money’s going somewhere… Somebody’s getting paid, so why shouldn’t it be the guy who sat down and wrote ‘Yesterday’?”

In 2023, McCartney and Beatles drummer Ringo Starr used AI to extract John Lennon’s vocals from an unfinished decades-old song and produce a new track called “Now and Then”.

“I think AI is great, and it can do lots of great things,” McCartney told the BBC in the rare interview, adding “it has its uses.

“But it shouldn’t rip creative people off. There’s no sense in that.”

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

London:

British singer Elton John told a theatre audience on Sunday that he had lost his sight, months after suffering a severe eye infection. One of the biggest-selling artists of all time, Mr John attended the launch of the “The Devil Wears Prada” musical in London’s West End but said he had been unable to watch the performance.

“I haven’t been able to come to many of the previews because, as you know, I have lost my eyesight,” the 77-year-old singer told the audience at a charity gala performance of the musical based on the best-selling novel for which he has written the score.

“So it’s hard for me to see it, but I love to hear it and, boy, it sounded good tonight,” he said.

The “Tiny Dancer” and “Rocket Man” star thanked his husband, David Furnish, saying he “has been my rock.”

The “Rocket Man” star posted on Instagram in September that an infection had “left me with only limited vision in one eye”.

Last month, he told ABC News in the US that the infection had left him unable to see out of his right eye and that his left was “not the greatest,” meaning he could no longer read or watch anything and putting his ability to record any new music in the future at risk.

“I am healing, but it’s an extremely slow process and it will take some time before sight returns to the impacted eye,” he added.

The music legend, whose piano-led rock songs and ballads such as “Candle in the Wind” have kept him in the spotlight since the 1970s, wound down a glittering live career with a global farewell tour in 2022 and 2023. He played his final show in his native UK at the Glastonbury Festival and his last-ever gig in Sweden and has since focused on his family.

In 1994, Mr John was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for contributions to music and charity In 1998 gaining the title ‘Sir’.

While he is officially retired from touring, he wrote the music for the musical “The Devil Wears Prada”, which is based on the 2003 novel by Lauren Weisberger, which was also turned into a movie in 2006.

New York:

US President Joe Biden paid tribute to LGBTQ pioneers and British music legend Elton John performed his hits as the pair inaugurated on Friday a historical site in New York City celebrating the 1969 “Stonewall riots”.

Appearing sharper than he did in a disastrous debate against Donald Trump the night before, 81-year-old Biden praised those who revolted on June 28, 1969 against yet another police raid on the Greenwich Village gay bar Stonewall Inn — a foundational moment in the fight for LGBTQ rights.

“You marked a turning point for civil rights in America and inspired the hearts of millions around the world. To this day, Stonewall remains a symbol of a legacy of leadership for the LGBTQ+ community, especially trans women of color,” he said.

“We remain in a battle for the soul of America,” Biden added, before introducing John to the stage.

The six nights of the Stonewall riots marked the birth of the modern gay rights movement. Gay Pride was born in their wake.

The bar still exists and was designated a national monument by former president Barack Obama in 2016.

Since Friday, a small, free museum has been added where visitors can learn about the site’s history.

“Just as Americans visit Independence Hall, Liberty Bell or the Statue of Liberty to embrace the history of our country, now we can pay homage to a place where we began to fight for our freedom, our rights, our equality,” said Mark Segal, who was part of the revolt at Stonewall.

Elton John, himself an LGBTQ icon, told attendees: “The job isn’t done.”

The 77-year-old musician concluded a triumphant farewell tour last year, but returned to the stage on Friday to treat guests to a short recital.

He dedicated the classic “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me” to his friend Larry Kramer, one of the co-founders of the Act Up organization, and to “all the LGBTQ+ people that have gone before us and have paved the way for where we are now.”

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)