European artists unite in powerful campaign urging policymakers to 'Stay True To the [AI] Act'

15 July 2025 - Press release

 

Today [15 JULY], over 30 prominent and up and coming artists from across the EU have launched a united video campaign urging EU policymakers to uphold the original intent of the EU AI Act and protect creators from the unchecked use of their work by generative AI companies.

In a rare joint intervention, artists including Spanish singer-songwriter Álex Ubago, have urged the European Commission to “remain faithful to the law.” Alex says that “AI should protect music and those who create it.” 

This is echoed by Justyna Steczkowska, Poland’s representative for Eurovision 2025, who says, “as artists we should have the right to know if our work has been used to train AI and the right to say that we simply do not want it.” She adds, “the European Union has passed a law that is supposed to protect us and now we are asking the European Commission to simply implement it, simply to make it a fact."

The campaign – Stay True To The Act – features heartfelt video messages from musicians across Europe calling on the European Commission to ensure that AI companies are held accountable for how they use copyrighted material to train their models.

At the heart of the issue is a growing concern from the creative sector that artists’ works are being used without their knowledge or consent to train AI systems capable of generating vast volumes of content that mimic their styles. 

The EU AI Act, passed in 2024, included groundbreaking provisions requiring AI developers to disclose the content used to train their models. However, the EU Is now working to put this law into practice and the legislation risks being watered down – failing to hold AI companies to account.

The Stay True To The Act campaign is a direct appeal to the European policymakers to ensure that implementation of the Act reflects its original spirit of transparency, accountability and the protection of European creators. The artists are calling for:

• The protection of copyright and innovation: To be able to create, creators must have rights to keep control of how their work is used and be remunerated for such use
• Transparency: AI systems that use creative work must be transparent and comply with existing copyright rules
• The opportunity for music and AI to grow and thrive together in the EU.

 

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