Dear Andy,
The people of Makerfield elected you on a promise of hope. In your victory speech you said the result would “bring about a country that works fairly for everywhere and for everybody”.
Right now, hundreds of thousands of creative workers across the UK are in a state of despair over the callous and dismissive way their government has treated them. Their plight centres on the mass theft of their work to train generative AI models which then compete against them. You’d think Labour would want to tackle this appalling injustice which risks destroying the nation’s creative industries worth £124.6 billion to the UK economy.
But no.
Rather than come to their aid the Starmer administration backed Big Tech. First ministers sought to water down Britain’s gold standard copyright laws making it even easier for AI companies to steal creative content. Then they repeatedly refused to support emergency protections letting creatives know if their copyrighted works had been used in generative model training. Far from delivering a long-promised “reset” on AI and creative copyright the government chose inaction, leaving creators fearful that another attempt to weaken copyright might follow.
Not once has the mass theft been condemned. Instead, AI boosterish ministers parrot tech lobby talking points and make unsubstantiated claims about a technology that’s likely to destroy more jobs than it will ever create.
It’s hard to disagree with the conclusion of creators’ champion Baroness Kidron who says the government has been “captured” by Big Tech (1). Ministers rebuffed her valiant attempts to safeguard the creative industries, just as they have ignored reports setting out an alternative approach. One that needs to be in your in-tray is from a Lords’ committee that in March said the UK could become “a world-leading home for responsible, licensing-based AI development” where AI companies using UK content “obtain permission” and “pay fair remuneration to rightsholders” (2). What’s not to like?
Another is from creator-led organisations representing authors, illustrators, musicians, performers, and photographers. Brave New World? Justice for Creators in the Age of Gen AI explains in harrowing detail the damage being done to livelihoods and careers as well as proposing a framework for ethical, human-centred AI (3).
It’s been said that your victory in Makerfield gives Labour one last chance. Please recognise you represent one last chance for many in Britain’s creative workforce of 2.4 million people. Meet with the creator groups. Hear their concerns. Replace Labour’s disastrous stance on AI with a new tech policy that builds on the strengths of the UK’s incredible creative sector, and safeguards it for the future. A new policy with hope and fairness at the core.
For too long Labour has put the interests of Big Tech ahead of creatives. Ministers have sided with some of the most unethical and irresponsible corporations we’ve ever seen. Your slogan in Makerfield was ‘Andy — For Us’. Creatives would love to know you’re for them, too.
Please don’t let them down.
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(1) grahamlovelace.substack.com/p/big-tech-could-be-br...