LONDON, Feb 25 (Reuters) - More than 1,000 musicians

including Kate Bush and Cat Stevens on Tuesday released a silent

album to protest proposed changes to Britain's copyright laws

which could allow tech firms to train artificial intelligence

models using their work.

Creative industries globally are grappling with the legal

and ethical implications of AI models that can produce their own

output after being trained on popular works without necessarily

paying the creators of the original content.

Britain, which Prime Minister Keir Starmer wants to become

an AI superpower, has proposed relaxing laws that currently give

creators of literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works the

right to control the ways their material may be used.

The proposed changes would allow AI developers to train

their models on any material to which they have lawful access,

and would require creators to proactively opt out to stop their

work being used.

The changes have been heavily criticised by many artists,

who say it would reverse the principle of copyright law, which

grants exclusive control to creators for their work.

"In the music of the future, will our voices go unheard?,"

said Bush, whose 1985 hit "Running Up That Hill" enjoyed a

resurgence in 2022 thanks to Netflix ( NFLX ) show "Stranger Things".

The co-written album titled "Is This What We Want?" features

recordings of empty studios and performance spaces to represent

what organisers say is the potential impact on artists'

livelihoods should the changes go ahead.

A public consultation on the legal changes closes later on

Tuesday.

Responding to the album, a government spokesperson said the

current copyright and AI regime was holding back the creative

industries, media and AI sector from "realising their full

potential."

"We have engaged extensively with these sectors throughout

and will continue to do so. No decisions have been taken," the

spokesperson said, adding that the government's proposals will

be set out in due course.

Annie Lennox, Billy Ocean, Hans Zimmer, Tori Amos and The

Clash are among the musicians urging the government to review

its plans.

"The government's proposal would hand the life's work of the

country's musicians to AI companies, for free, letting those

companies exploit musicians' work to outcompete them," said

organiser Ed Newton-Rex, the founder of Fairly Trained, a

non-profit that certifies generative AI companies for fairer

training data practices.

"The UK can be leaders in AI without throwing our

world-leading creative industries under the bus."

($1 = 0.7913 pounds)