Two of the biggest names in music last night backed a major new Daily Mail campaign to stop AI plundering Britain’s creative genius.

Sir Elton John and Simon Cowell called on ministers to rethink their radical proposals to relax copyright rules.

The two global megastars fear the next big acts will not be able to break through should the Government go ahead with plans to hand a copyright exemption to Big Tech firms.

They warned the plans risked destroying the UK’s world-renowned £126 billion creative industries – and many thousands of jobs at the same time.

Ministers are proposing to change existing laws so that the tech giants can use any online material, such as text, images or music, to improve their Artificial Intelligence models – without respecting the copyright laws that ensure creators get paid.

Instead, creators would have to ‘opt out’ of having their work exploited in this way.

But many in the worlds of music, film, media, the Arts and publishing fear that this could have a ruinous effect on a sector that employs 2.4 million people – with American technology billionaires the likely beneficiaries.

The UK’s creative sector is the envy of the world, but we only achieved that success with the backing of our long-standing copyright protection, says Sir Elton John

It could also threaten Britain’s free Press, with journalistic content taken from newspaper websites without recompense.

Yesterday the Mail launched a campaign calling on Keir Starmer’s Government to urgently change course.

In an impassioned plea last night, Sir Elton said the proposals ‘would devastate our creative community’ only to ‘help powerful foreign technology companies make profits’.

He warned it would ‘destroy the UK’s leadership’ as a cultural superpower and ‘give it all away. For nothing’.

Sir Elton said: ‘The UK’s creative sector is the envy of the world, but we only achieved that success with the backing of our long-standing copyright protection – the world’s gold standard. And it’s paid off: Our creative industries drive economic growth and create jobs for the UK, as well as fuelling our ongoing leadership in world affairs.

‘We all recognise and embrace the fact that generative AI technology offers some incredible opportunities for us all. This is not new. The music community has always been quick to adopt new technologies.

‘We must respect creators’ rights, deliver great experiences for fans and offer new and young artists even brighter opportunities. But adoption of this copyright exception would destroy the UK’s leadership that has been hard won, and what’s worse, it would give it all away. For nothing.’

X Factor creator Simon Cowell warned that the livelihoods of artists and those who worked behind the scenes risked ‘being wiped out’ if AI was not managed and regulated properly

X Factor creator Cowell said the issue was ‘potentially one of the biggest moments and decisions of our time’.

Writing in the Mail, he warned that the livelihoods of artists and those who worked behind the scenes risked ‘being wiped out’ if AI was not managed and regulated properly.

‘The thought that anyone would believe they have the right to blindly give this country’s creative ideas away – for nothing – is just wrong,’ he said. ‘I passionately care about people’s personal creativity – and AI shouldn’t be able to steal the talent of those humans who created the magic in the first place.’

Cowell and Sir Elton are the latest cultural powerhouses to join the Mail’s fight after the bosses of Sony Music Group, Warner Music and Universal Music Group all backed our campaign.

Today, best-selling author Kate Mosse, the boss of publisher Penguin Random House UK Tom Weldon and singer-songwriter Joan Armatrading join the fray. They are speaking out as a pivotal public consultation on the controversial proposal is set to conclude next week.

Mr Weldon said last night: ‘We are at a critical juncture. This Government has a unique opportunity to set the conditions to protect, support and grow the creative and tech sectors in tandem with copyright protection as the fundamental underpinning.’

Labyrinth author Ms Mosse said: ‘Our work makes a difference. Yet our work is being stolen illegally and without our permission or payment. This must stop. Please listen to us. Do not legitimise theft. Do not damage our world-beating creative economy.’

Ms Armatrading, whose hits include Love and Affection, said: ‘It is crucial to safeguard the rights of creators through robust copyright laws.

‘Governments must take immediate action to ensure that the intellectual property of creatives – whether ideas, works, or inventions – remains protected and under the originators’ control.’

Ministers say creative organisations would be allowed to register a ‘rights reservation’ – effectively an opt-out – if they don’t want their work exploited.

But critics believe it is not fair to force struggling creators to employ lawyers and tech experts to notify wealthy AI developers.

They also point out the Government has so far failed to carry out any economic impact assessment of its proposals.

United in outrage, Britain’s creative superstars

Elton John

Music legend

‘The UK’s creative sector is the envy of the world, but we only achieved that success with the backing of our long-standing copyright protection – the world’s gold standard. And it’s paid off: our creative industries drive economic growth and create jobs for the UK, as well as fuelling our ongoing leadership in world affairs.

‘But make no mistake: our position is tenuous. It’s harder than ever to succeed. This is arguably the most competitive global market in our lifetime, especially for new and young British artists.

‘I have been standing up on behalf of young artists because they literally represent our future. The proposal being considered by the UK Government would devastate our creative community, especially emerging artists and those who aspire to a career in the arts.

‘It would allow the taking of our music – and every other piece of art ever made in the UK – without authorisation or compensation. And for what? To help powerful foreign technology companies make profits. That’s just wrong and it’s unnecessary.

‘We all recognise and embrace the fact that generative AI technology offers some incredible opportunities for us all. This is not new. The music community has always been quick to adopt new technologies.

‘We must respect creators’ rights, deliver great experiences for fans and offer new and young artists even brighter opportunities. But adoption of this copyright exception would destroy the UK’s leadership that has been hard won, and what’s worse, it would give it all away. For nothing.’

Kate Mosse

Best-selling author

‘I wholly support the Government’s agenda for growth and am committed to the transformative possibilities of AI, but this cannot be at the expense of British authors and our world-leading creative industries which contribute some £126billion per year to the UK’s coffers. Our work makes a difference. Yet our work is being stolen illegally and without our permission or payment. This must stop.

‘The AI companies pay for the electricity and water they use, for the technicians they employ, and should pay creatives in the same way.

‘It is a matter of principle, of fairness, of good and ethical business practice.

‘The UK has the oldest and most respected copyright law in the world, it is workable and transparent. Our licensing and collecting systems work.

‘The AI companies could – and should – follow the law, they simply are choosing not to. So I am calling on the Government – and all opposition politicians – to back an “opt in” solution, putting the responsibility on AI companies to seek permission and offer payment for using our work rather than the proposed unworkable and untested “opt out” solution that puts the burden on writers to prevent their work being stolen.

The AI companies pay for the electricity and water they use, for the technicians they employ, and should pay creatives in the same way, says novelist Kate Mosse

‘Please listen to us. Do not legitimise theft. Do not damage our world-beating creative economy. Do not reward wrong doing by weakening UK copyright/IP protections. Work with us to enable us to help you achieve the growth the country needs. Back British.’

Joan Armatrading

Singer-songwriter whose global hits include Love and Affection from 1976 and Me Myself I from 1980

‘It is crucial to safeguard the rights of creators through robust copyright laws.

‘Governments must take immediate action to ensure that the intellectual property of creatives – whether ideas, works, or inventions – remains protected and under the originators’ control.’

ED Newton-Rex

AI whistleblower and most prominent campaigner

‘The Government’s proposal would hand the life’s work of the UK’s talented creators – its musicians, its writers, its artists – to AI companies, for free.

‘It would let foreign AI companies exploit our incredibly valuable creative output to build tech that directly competes with our creative industries. The country’s creators are rightly united in opposition to this ill-thought-through plan.’

Nick Foster

Bafta-winning composer

‘These proposed changes to copyright law will be hugely detrimental to artists in the UK because it is taking away the protections of people who write. If this goes ahead, who will be the next Hans Zimmer, the next Paul McCartney or the next Ed Sheeran? This country is amazing with music and creativity and we punch well above our weight but this will do real damage.’

Tory Damian Collins

Former chair of DCMS committee

‘Why should AI developers get to steal data from the works of artists without giving any compensation to the artist?

‘It’s effectively a form of theft. No one is saying we need AI to replace humans in creating beautiful works of art and music.

‘There’s no market need for this. There’s no cultural need for this. It is simply one group of people taking from another to make money for themselves.’

Lib Dem Lord Tim Clement-Jones

Co-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on AI

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‘The Government is just completely walking into this. Instead of retreating politically they’ve just dug themselves a deeper hole.

‘They need to take this option off the table and make sure that they ensure that one of the most valuable sectors in the British economy survives and thrives alongside AI.

‘Creatives must not be deprived of a living as a result of AI.’

Rosa Curling

Co-executive director of Foxglove, a non-profit fighting to make technology fair

‘US tech giants have set their sights on nothing less than the strip-mining of British culture and journalism to train their AI models and line their pockets.

‘We’re the country of Shakespeare, Orwell, Charli XCX and the Beatles – it would be madness to trade that away for free in exchange for some vague promise of AI-focused growth.

‘Rather than helping American monopolists gorge themselves on our culture, the Government should press on with probing the dodgy deals that enabled them to gobble up the AI market – like Microsoft’s so-called partnership with OpenAI, which has been held up at the pre-notification stage of the competition regulator, the CMA, for over a year.’

Keith Kupferschmid

CEO of the Copyright Alliance in America

‘This is a great concern. AI is the shiny new toy, and everybody’s enamoured with it, but it doesn’t have to be in a way that eviscerates copyright and creators’ rights.

‘Everybody’s racing to the bottom by trying to lure these AI companies.

‘It’s especially astonishing when it comes to the UK because the country is such a leader when it comes to culture and creativity.’

A timely alert from Cambridge

A major report by AI experts at Cambridge University has called for ‘robust policy intervention’ to protect the cultural industry from the threats the technology poses, and urged caution over a copyright exemption.

Researchers from the Minderoo Centre for Technology and Democracy examined how generative AI may affect artists and productivity in a report published this week.

They point out the sector contributes £126 billion to the economy, whereas AI firms, while fast-growing and exciting, bring in a relatively tiny £3.7 billion.

They write: ‘The UK’s creative industries are facing new and far-reaching threats from unregulated AI models.

‘We urge caution against embarking on a text and data-mining exemption, without a robust analysis of the impact that it will have on the creative industries.’