In a scathing critique that has reverberated throughout Britain’s creative industries, Sir Elton John has publicly condemned the Labour government, calling them “absolute losers” over their handling of artificial intelligence copyright protections in the contentious Data (Use and Access) Bill.

The legendary musician’s comments come amid growing tensions between the creative community and tech interests as the bill moves through its final legislative stages. Sir Elton expressed feeling “incredibly betrayed” by the government’s approach to copyright law as it relates to AI training on creative works.

The Copyright Controversy

At the heart of the dispute is an amendment that would have required AI developers to disclose all individual works used in their model training processes and ensure compliance with existing copyright laws. This amendment, initially introduced by cross-bench peer Baroness Beeban Kidron, had gained substantial support from prominent creative figures including Nobel Prize-winning author Kazuo Ishiguro and “Bridget Jones’s Diary” writer Helen Fielding.

Despite passing in the House of Lords earlier this year, the amendment was subsequently removed in the House of Commons. A reintroduction attempt by Liberal Democrat MP Victoria Collins was defeated on May 7th by a vote of 287 to 88, according to The Bookseller.

The Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS) described the vote as “disappointing,” while Baroness Kidron argued that the government’s planned impact assessment of the bill did not represent a meaningful concession to creators’ concerns.

Industry Divide

The debate has exposed a fundamental tension between two visions for Britain’s economic future. On one side, creative industries argue that unauthorized use of their works to train AI systems threatens their livelihoods and intellectual property rights. On the other, AI developers and their supporters maintain that restrictive copyright rules would hamper innovation in a sector the government has identified as crucial for economic growth.

“If accepted as it currently stands, the Bill would have far-reaching consequences for the UK’s AI ecosystem, introducing technically difficult and costly legal requirements and stifling innovation at a critical moment for the sector,” said Ayesha Bhatti, head of digital policy for the UK and EU at the Center for Data Innovation, as reported by the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation.

Political Implications

Sir Elton’s remarks represent a significant public relations challenge for Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government, which has positioned itself as both pro-business and supportive of Britain’s world-renowned creative sectors.

The Culture, Media and Sport Committee has previously acknowledged the issue, with its Chair Caroline Dinenage noting they had “heard widespread concerns from the creative industries about how their copyrighted works are used to train AI models without consent or compensation,” according to a House of Commons Library briefing.

The government’s position appears influenced by its AI Opportunities Action Plan, published in January 2025, which recommended increasing data availability to AI developers and reforming the UK’s text and data mining regime to be “at least as competitive as the EU.”

Looking Ahead

As the Data (Use and Access) Bill approaches its final hurdles, the government faces mounting pressure to balance its ambitions for AI leadership with the protection of creative rights. The Publishers Association has indicated that “the way forward was clear” with licensing arrangements that would compensate creators while allowing for technological advancement.

Sir Elton’s intervention elevates what might otherwise have remained a specialized policy dispute into a high-profile political challenge that cuts across economic, cultural, and technological domains—potentially forcing the government to reconsider its approach as the bill moves toward becoming law.