Peers in the House of Lords have forced Keir Starmer to accept a major amendment on a new AI bill or risk being defeated on the whole legislation. Lords have been battling for months to impose an amendment on the legislation that would require greater copyright protections for the creative industries, who fear AI scrapers will steal their work without payment or credit.
The upper chamber has repeatedly voted in favour of the amendment by Baroness Kidron, a film director, who wants to force AI companies to disclose what material they are using to develop their programmes and require them to ask permission from copyright holders in order to use their work. The Government has repeatedly rejected the amendment during ‘ping pong’, the parliamentary procedure whereby a Bill goes between the Commons and the Lords until one side gives in.
This afternoon, the Lords inflicted yet another defeat on the Government and technology minister Chris Bryant, voting by 221 to 116 to once again insist on the amendment to the Data (Use and Access) Bill.
Sir Keir was defeated yet again, and now risks losing his entire bill (Image: Getty)
The House of Lords has now cornered Keir Starmer’s government on the legislation, and means they are forced to either come up with an alternative proposal that satisfies Lords rebels, or risk the entire bill falling.
Yesterday LibDem spokesman Victoria Collins said that while the advance of AI should be celebrated, the government “must also ensure that the creative work that has gone into it is also valued.”
Minister Chris Bryant insisted that his objections to the Bill “are not undermining copyright owners’ control over their work”, and he wants to protect intellectual property.
However he argues the Bill “was never intended to be about artificial intelligence, intellectual property and copyright.
“What we have is a Bill that will harness data for economic growth, improve public services and support modern digital government. We want to get the legislation on the statute book as fast as we possibly can.”
The Lords is insisting on an amendment to protect the creative industries (Image: Getty)
The row over the amendment comes after condemnation by Sir Elton John, who branded the government “losers” over their opposition to the proposed legal protections.
The singing superstar said ministers would be “committing theft” if they allowed big tech companies to use artists’ work without permission or compensation.
Fellow stars including Paul McCartney, Annie Lennox and Kate Bush have also spoken out opposition to AI’s use of art without permission.
Baroness Kidron pointed out: “There’s no industrial sector in the UK that government policy requires to give its property or labour to another sector – which is in direct competition with it – on a compulsory basis, in the name of balance.
“The government has got it wrong.
“They have been turned by the sweet whisperings of Silicon Valley who have stolen – and continue to steal every day we take no action – the UK’s extraordinary, beautiful and valuable creative output.
“Silicon Valley has persuaded the government that it’s easier for them to redefine theft than make them pay for what they have stolen.”
Disaster awaits if Rachel Reeves is blamed for police collapse
Labour has a huge majority but it is in electoral danger (Image: Getty)
The Chancellor is love-bombing traditional Labour heartlands to stop Reform UK delivering the type of demolition job the party suffered in Scotland when voters embraced the SNP.
Labour knows it cannot allow voters in once rock-solid seats to feel taken for granted. The Government suffered a PR-nightmare at the start of the year when it announced a raft of pro-growth policies which looked centred on the South.
Its support for a third runway at Heathrow, the Oxford-Cambridge “growth corridor” and the Lower Thames Crossing did little to suggest ending the North-South divide – or, as Boris Johnson would put it, “levelling-up” – is a top priority for this Labour administration.
The Chancellor has now seized the chance to assure communities far from London they are on her radar, trumpeting her support for transport schemes across the North and Midlands as part of a £15.6billion funding package.
Ms Reeves understands she must be seen as something other than Slasher-in-Chief as next week’s spending review races closer. Her opponents will accuse her of implementing Tory-style austerity that could have been avoided if she had not stamped on growth with her shock Budget which hiked up taxes on employers.
Labour is dismayed Reform UK is in first place in the polls and Sir Keir Starmer has tried to brand Nigel Farage as “Liz Truss 2.0”. He knows Labour’s electoral survival hinges on nailing down voters’ trust on the economy – and it is essential his Chancellor commands the respect of the country.
But if she is seen to take the axe to the Home Office in the spending review – right at the moment Reform is reaching out to voters worried about illegal immigration and the breakdown of law and order – Labour risks sinking even further in the polls.
The nation’s country’s most senior police chiefs have warned “negotiations between the Home Office and the Treasury are going poorly”. They say cuts would mean “stark choices about which crimes we no longer prioritise”.
Ms Reeves insists the Government will be “increasing spending on police” in the spending review.
But if the message voters get from this landmark moment is police won’t turn up to crimes, voters will conclude Britain is broken under Labour. And then they will look for an alternative party of Government.
