Kate Bush has joined a campaign against AI.
The 66-year-old music legend has backed calls from musicians, actors and others in the creative industries to stop technology threatening their livelihoods by adding her name to a petition which now boasts more than 36,000 signatures from famous faces including Radiohead star Thom Yorke, ABBA’s Bjorn Ulvaeus and The Cure frontman Robert Smith as well as actors Julianne Moore, Kevin Bacon, Rosario Dawson, Stephen Fry and Hugh Bonneville.
The petition calls for better regulation of artificial intelligence programs to stop them using artists’ work without permission, stating: “The unlicensed use of creative works for training generative AI is a major, unjust threat to the livelihoods of the people behind those works, and must not be permitted.”
Kate’s decision to join the movement comes as the UK government is expected to launch a consultation into a new system which would allow copyright holders to opt out of having their work mined to train AI algorithms.
Beatles legend Sir Paul McCartney recently spoke out about the dangers of AI and warned it could have a massive impact on young artists and composers.
He said in a statement: “We[’ve] got to be careful about it because it could just take over and we don’t want that to happen particularly for the young composers and writers [for] who, it may be the only way they[’re] gonna make a career.
“If AI wipes that out, that would be a very sad thing indeed.”
Kate previously revealed she is “very keen” to make a new album more than a decade after she released her last record – 2011’s ’50 Words For Snow’ – admitting she has “lots of ideas” and can’t wait to get back into the studio.
Speaking to Emma Barnett on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, she spilled: “I’m very keen to start working on a new album.
“I’ve got lots of ideas. I’m really looking forward to getting back into that creative space. It’s been a long time.”
Despite her desire to make new tunes, Kate – who has released 10 studio album since 1978 – insisted she is not ready to return to the stage, noting she is “not there yet”.