The Script frontman backs Sinn Féin’s artificial intelligence motion

The Script frontman backs Sinn Féin’s artificial intelligence motion

Intellectual property theft is happening on an “industrial scale” thanks to Artificial Intelligence (AI), The Script’s Danny O’Donoghue has said.

The lead singer of the Irish pop group has endorsed the Sinn Féin motion “Protecting the Copyright of Irish Artists in the era of Artificial Intelligence”, which will be debated in the Irish Parliament on Tuesday.

He told the state broadcaster’s radio news programme, Morning Ireland, that last week he discovered that 125 of his and The Script’s songs had been scraped and used for training by “five of the major AI companies”.

He described this as “outrageous” and “intellectual property theft on an industrial scale”.

“You don’t just class a song as something one person wrote, there could be an ecosystem of small businesses combined in there,” he said.

“I just think its an absolute travesty.”

He said his group are an established act, adding: “So I’ll sell tickets, but I’m here representing all musicians from Ireland, because there are a lot more lower-level musicians than there are people at the tip of the iceberg.”

Copyright laws do exist, O’Donoghue told RTÉ, but said: “Musicians have spent a lifetime creating music, not lobbying for power or money.

“If this was Coca-Cola and we stole their formula and you could be damn sure we’d be brought to court over it.”

AI generated songs are “diluting the market” he added, with 80,000 new songs being released every day which is “covering over all these amazing new artists that are out there”.

Ireland should use its presidency of the Council of Europe to show it “cares about our artists”, he said and that new laws should be brought in to ensure fair pay and proper licensing.

Other legislation could include AI “opt-out rights”, he continued, so artists can consent to their material being used to train AI models, and be compensated for it.

He also suggested that the Government should ensure no public funding goes towards AI generated content.

The Sinn Féin motion sets out a “clear line in the sand” he said “for those who are against musicians in Ireland and those who are for musicians in Ireland”.

It is being tabled by the party’s Arts and Culture spokesman Aengus Ó Snodaigh.

Asked about the issue before attending a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday morning, Research, Innovation and Science Minister James Lawless said while he is “sympathetic” to the situation musicians find themselves in, it is a “difficult” and “complex” issue.

“I don’t think, in honesty, it’s going to be solved by a private members’ bill from opposition put through in the last week of the Dáil,” he said.

“I’m not saying that in any way to be derogatory towards the efforts of Sinn Féin to legislate on it.”

Mr Lawless said he had listened to Mr O’Donoghue with “great interest” and said there is a need for European regulation on the matter, which the Government will “engage” with.

“But I think we do have to move quickly on it,” he continued.

“I think it’s a very real and present danger to the musical industry right now, and we need to be engaged on that, and we need to support the musical industry in protecting their copyright and their intellectual property.”

Speaking to reporters, he said politicians “are also subject to scraping and deep fakes, and having our images, our speech patterns repeated and put out there”.