Elton John, Kate Bush and more top UK artists sign letter urging UK government to protect their work from AI

Over 70 leading artists have signed a letter to UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, urging him to stand up for artists' rights and protect their work ahead of a UK-US tech pact.

The artists argue that Starmer's Labour Party has repeatedly failed to defend the basic human rights of artists by blocking attempts to mandate that artificial intelligence companies reveal what copyrighted material is used in their systems.

In the letter first reported on by The Guardian, artists claim AI companies are ignoring copyright law "en masse" in their systems, and that the UK government's refusal to accept a transparency mandate "actively stood in the way" of artists exercising their human rights.

"The government’s formal position has exhibited a shocking indifference to mass theft, and a complete unwillingness to enforce the existing law to uphold human rights," the letter reads.

Elton John, who was among the signatories, said the UK government allowing companies to train their AI on copyrighted work without permission "leaves the door wide open for an artist's life work to be stolen."

"We will not accept this, and we will not let the government forget their election promises to support our creative industries," said the 'Rocket Man' singer.

Other signatories include Paul McCartney, Kate Bush, Mick Jagger and Annie Lennox, along with playwright Kwame Kwei Armah and writer Antonia Fraser.

Elton John and Paul McCartney were among the over 400 artists who signed a similar letter in May.

The letter cites the UN's International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), which states that "no one shall be deprived of his possessions except in the public interest," as well as the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works and the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), which are enforceable under the UK Human Rights Act.

Artists allege that the UK government's actions breached their rights to "the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is author," as laid out in the ICESCR.

The letter comes ahead of US President Donald Trump's visit to the UK, where he is expected to make an announcement about a UK-US tech deal covering AI. Trump will be accompanied by several US tech leaders.

The Labour government initially launched a consultation to reform copyright law with the preferred option to allow AI companies to use copyright-protected work without seeking the owner’s permission.

However, they have since backpedalled and said that is no longer their preferred option and that they are convening working groups from both AI companies and the creative sphere to find a solution.

Beeban Kidron, the MP who presented amendments to reform copyright law, said the groups are "packed" with US interests, with members including Facebook parent company Meta and ChatGPT developer OpenAI.

Kidron said recent UK government tech deals have nurtured a close relationship between UK government and US tech, but failure to protect copyrighted content does encroach on artists' rights.

"It’s deeply regrettable that it has come to this, but by prioritising the short-term optics of data centre announcements and trade deals, they are knowingly undermining the foundations of the UK’s creative industries," Kidron said.

A recent study by the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers suggested that people in the music industry are likely to lose at least a quarter of their income due to AI over the next four years.

A report on the impact of potential changes is set to be published by March 2026 and the UK government is taking the creative industry's concerns "seriously", according to a UK government spokesperson.

"No decisions have been taken, but our focus is on both supporting rights holders and creatives, while making sure AI models can be trained on high-quality material in the UK," the spokesperson said.

Trump and his tech allies are set to arrive in the UK today.