Extracts from Culture,
Media and Sport questions
AI: Creative Industries
Dame (Gosport) (Con)
9. What discussions she has had with representatives of the
creative industries on the impact of AI on that sector.
(901488)
The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport ()
I recognise the enormous potential of AI, but also its risks. I
have had extensive engagement with the creative sector on these
issues, including a series of roundtable talks on AI with, among
others, media, music and
film representatives. I am now working closely with the Secretary
of State for Science, Innovation and Technology on a programme of
further engagement with the sector.
Dame
I thank the Secretary of State for that answer, but creators
across the creative industries are concerned about AI developers,
some of whom are worth as much as $100 billion, using their works
without consent and without compensation. The inability of the
Government’s working group to agree a code of practice on AI and
intellectual property fuels concerns that the status quo is
working only for the developers. This will be a growing problem.
If a voluntary code is not going to be possible, how will the
Government and her Department in particular ensure that creators
will be paid fairly when their work is exploited?
I understand this issue and the concerns that my hon. Friend has
mentioned. I know that, as Chair of the Culture, Media and Sport
Committee, she understands and appreciates these matters. I want
to assure her that the conclusion of the initial public offering
working group is absolutely not the end of our work to find an
appropriate regulatory solution for AI. We are absolutely
committed to ensuring that AI development supports rather than
undermines human creativity. For example, we will be focusing on
ensuring greater transparency from AI developers and that AI
outputs are properly attributed. It is also right, as she
highlights, that creators should be compensated for their
work.
(Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock)
(SNP)
Good morning, Mr Speaker. AI firms are committing large-scale
abuse of copyrighted material, using copyrighted images and
pieces of media to train their AI tools without consent or
compensation for copyright owners. The United Kingdom Government
say that they want to reduce barriers to AI companies, but that
can only come at the expense of creators and artists. How does it
make sense to sacrifice the 10% of UK GDP that comes from the
creative sector in favour of less than a quarter of a per cent of
GDP that AI produces?
I recognise the point that the hon. Member makes in relation to
the importance of protecting creative rights—the creative
ingenuity that is such an important part of both our British
culture and economic value. That is why I am hearing from the
sector, and why, in the Government’s AI White Paper, we recognise
the importance of ensuring greater transparency from AI
developers. We are continuing to work on that across
Government.
Mr Speaker
I call the shadow Minister.
Sir (Rhondda) (Lab)
I am sorry, but the Government’s answer to the Chair of the
Culture, Media and Sport Committee was a load of hot air that
could have been written by ChatGPT, except ChatGPT would have
done a better job of it. The truth of the matter is that the
Government’s flagship on AI as it relates to creative industries,
which is meant to be protecting the moral and economic rights of
artists, musicians, and authors, while at the
same time recognising the important advances that AI can bring,
has sunk. Last June, the Secretary of State said that if the code
of practice was not achieved, legislation could be considered.
So, in the words of Paul Simon, when is she going to make a new
plan, Stan?
I would just point out that the Labour party has said absolutely
nothing in relation to what it would do, so to stand up here and
say that we have no plan is absolutely unacceptable. I can be
absolutely clear that we do have a plan. We have worked very hard
with the sectors. We have already set out in our White Paper the
steps that we are taking on a very important aspect in relation
to transparency. I will continue to work with the sector on all
these areas to ensure that this extremely complex matter comes to
a satisfactory conclusion for the creative industries.
Topical
Questions
(Worsley and Eccles South)
(Lab): This week in the House, I raised with the Economic
Secretary to the Treasury the fact that serious delays in His
Majesty’s Revenue and Customs issuing A1 forms mean that touring
musicians are waiting months to be paid. A1
forms ensure that musicians do not have to pay
additional tax when touring in the EU, but some
musicians are waiting six to nine months, or
even a year, for those forms. One leading singer told me that
musicians feel like “hostages” of HMRC
incompetence, so what is the Secretary of State doing alongside
Treasury Ministers to sort out this mess, which is hitting UK
musicians so hard?
: I recognise the importance of
touring to many of our fantastic industries. We have bilateral
agreements with many other countries to ensure that touring can
take place, but I will continue to ensure that as a Government,
we take every step across the board to make sure that our
musicians can tour appropriately.
(Slough) (Lab): The
Government’s promise to protect music creators from the
potential negative impacts of artificial intelligence relied on a
deal between tech companies and the music
industry. However, it emerged earlier this month that those
discussions have collapsed. Will the Secretary of State admit
that their plan has failed, and say what the Government are going
to do about it to support the creative sector?
: I wish Labour Members would
actually read our White Paper on AI, because in that paper we
recognise the importance of this issue and the importance of
protecting the creative industries. The White Paper sets out what
we are doing about transparency, which is a key issue. We are of
course continuing to work with both sides of the industry—the AI
tech giants and the creators—to ensure we come to an appropriate
resolution of this issue.
Extract from oral
answer (Lords) on NHS: Dementia Commission Report
(Con): My Lords, I would like
to ask the Minister about the role of music therapy in
helping dementia patients. It is well known that when someone
listens to music sometimes it
takes them back to a place and time immediately. There has been
research on the role of music therapy. I
quickly skim-read the report but did not see music therapy mentioned
in any way or in detail. If I am wrong, perhaps the Minister can
correct me, but could he also tell me about the role
that music therapy can
play?
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health
and Social Care () (Con) (Con): My noble friend
is correct; I did not see reference in my noble friend Lord
O’Shaughnessy’s report to music therapy either. I
am familiar with some of the principles behind it. My personal
experience myself with the elderly dementia patient that I cared
for was that bringing my five year-old son along took them out of
their position and made them care for that child and forget about
their own situation. Those sorts of therapies—and music is similar—have a
vital role that we will look into further as part of this plan.
