{"slug": "the-script-frontman-backs-sinn-feins-artificial-intelligence-motion", "title": "The Script frontman backs Sinn Féin’s artificial intelligence motion", "summary": "The Script frontman Danny O'Donoghue endorsed Sinn Féin's motion on AI and copyright, stating that 125 of his songs were scraped by AI companies for training, calling it intellectual property theft on an industrial scale. The motion, debated in the Irish Parliament, seeks to protect artists' copyright in the AI era, with O'Donoghue advocating for opt-out rights and fair compensation.", "body_md": "# The Script frontman backs Sinn Féin’s artificial intelligence motion\n\n## Danny O’Donoghue said intellectual property theft is happening on an ‘industrial scale’ thanks to AI.\n\n- Bookmark\n\nIntellectual property theft is happening on an “industrial scale” thanks to Artificial Intelligence (AI), The Script’s Danny O’Donoghue has said.\n\nThe lead singer of the [Irish](/topic/irish) pop group has endorsed the Sinn Féin motion “Protecting the [Copyright](/topic/copyright) of Irish [Artists](/topic/artists) in the era of Artificial Intelligence”, which will be debated in the Irish Parliament on Tuesday.\n\nHe 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”.\n\nHe described this as “outrageous” and “intellectual property theft on an industrial scale”.\n\n“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.\n\n“I just think its an absolute travesty.”\n\nHe 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.”\n\nCopyright laws do exist, O’Donoghue told RTÉ, but said: “[Musicians](/topic/musicians) have spent a lifetime creating music, not lobbying for power or money.\n\n“If this was Coca-Cola and we stole their formula and you could be damn sure we’d be brought to court over it.”\n\nAI 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”.\n\nIreland 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.\n\nOther 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.\n\nHe also suggested that the Government should ensure no public funding goes towards AI generated content.\n\nThe 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”.\n\nIt is being tabled by the party’s Arts and Culture spokesman Aengus Ó Snodaigh.\n\nAsked 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.\n\n“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.\n\n“I’m not saying that in any way to be derogatory towards the efforts of Sinn Féin to legislate on it.”\n\nMr 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.\n\n“But I think we do have to move quickly on it,” he continued.\n\n“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.”\n\nSpeaking 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”.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/the-script-frontman-backs-sinn-feins-artificial-intelligence-motion", "canonical_source": "https://www.independent.co.uk/tech/musicians-copyright-artists-sinn-fein-irish-b3014538.html", "published_at": "2026-07-14 11:29:25+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-07-14 11:55:17.753305+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["artificial-intelligence", "ai-policy", "ai-ethics"], "entities": ["Danny O'Donoghue", "The Script", "Sinn Féin", "James Lawless", "Aengus Ó Snodaigh", "RTÉ"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/the-script-frontman-backs-sinn-feins-artificial-intelligence-motion", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/the-script-frontman-backs-sinn-feins-artificial-intelligence-motion.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/the-script-frontman-backs-sinn-feins-artificial-intelligence-motion.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/the-script-frontman-backs-sinn-feins-artificial-intelligence-motion.jsonld"}}