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Elton John calls UK government ‘absolute losers’ over AI copyright plans

Songwriter says he thinks it is a ‘criminal offence’ to let tech firms use protected work without permission

Last week, Kyle was accused of being too close to big tech after analysis showed a sharp increase in his department’s meetings with companies such as Google, Amazon, Apple and Meta since Labour won the election last July. John spoke before a House of Lords vote on a proposal from the crossbench peer Beeban Kidron that would require AI companies to disclose their use of copyright-protected content, giving creative professionals leverage to seek licensing agreements for use of their material. The spokesperson added that a recent government commitment to draw up an economic impact assessment of the proposals would explore “the broad range of issues and options on all sides of the debate”.

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