{"id":735332,"date":"2026-08-12T06:04:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T06:04:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/735332\/"},"modified":"2026-08-12T06:04:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T06:04:12","slug":"sir-brian-may-issues-warning-to-pm-as-he-insists-we-dont-need-ai-and-pleads-for-action-before-its-too-late","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/735332\/","title":{"rendered":"Sir Brian May issues warning to PM as he insists ‘We don’t need AI’ and pleads for action ‘before it’s too late’"},"content":{"rendered":"

The legendary Queen guitarist Sir Brian May has declared that humanity has no need for artificial intelligence, warning that the cost of its development is far too steep.<\/p>\n

In an Instagram post published on Tuesday, the 79-year-old musician raised alarm about the physical infrastructure required to power AI systems, urging that data centres must be blocked from being constructed across Britain.<\/p>\n

“We must not allow these hideous data centres to be built in the UK. They will destroy our beautiful country, like they are already destroying beautiful America,” he wrote.<\/p>\n

Sir Brian also directed a personal plea to Prime Minister Andy Burnham, stating: “Dear Andy, you must stop it now, before it’s too late.”<\/p>\n

\"Brian<\/p>\n

Brian May shared his thoughts on AI <\/p>\n

| PA<\/p>\n

He insisted the price of this “inevitable” technological shift was simply too great.<\/p>\n

The post was prompted by Sir Brian’s experiment with Meta’s AI tool, which he asked to reproduce the artwork from Queen’s 1980 record The Game.<\/p>\n

Sharing the result with his followers, he was far from impressed by the technology’s output.<\/p>\n

“I just had to share this with you guys. I asked Meta AI to show me what the cover of The Game album looked like. This is what it gave me, good job, eh?” he wrote sarcastically.<\/p>\n

\"Brian<\/p>\n

Sir Brian May declared that humanity has no need for artificial intelligence<\/p>\n

| PA<\/p>\n

“So this is the kind of intelligence that will soon be ruling the world?”<\/p>\n

The failed attempt at recreating the iconic album sleeve appeared to crystallise his broader scepticism, leading him to conclude: “Well, great, maybe this is the time to realise we actually don’t need AI.”<\/p>\n

Sir Brian’s intervention comes amid a broader debate within the music industry over AI’s role in creative work.<\/p>\n

Speaking at the 2026 Ivor Novello Awards in May, 4 Non Blondes vocalist Linda Perry took a markedly different view, encouraging fellow artists to welcome the technology rather than resist it.<\/p>\n

“To me, it’s just another tool that has shown up to make people’s life easier in some way,” she said, comparing the panic around AI to early fears about microwaves replacing home cooking.<\/p>\n

“If we try to run from the future, then we’re running from solution,” she added.<\/p>\n

Dance music producer Nia Archives offered a third perspective at the Mercury Prize launch in July, expressing doubt about AI-generated music’s staying power.<\/p>\n

“I don’t know if AI music will last to be honest with you, I think it’s quite like a fleeting technology moment,” she said.<\/p>\n

\"Brian<\/p>\n

Sir Brian’s career with Queen produced an extraordinary catalogue of hits<\/p>\n

| <\/p>\n

GETTY<\/p>\n

Sir Brian’s career with Queen produced an extraordinary catalogue of hits, with the band achieving six number one singles and 10 chart-topping albums in the UK. <\/p>\n

Among their most celebrated tracks are Bohemian Rhapsody, Killer Queen, Crazy Little Thing Called Love, and We Are The Champions.<\/p>\n

GB News has approached Meta AI has been for a response to Sir Brian’s remarks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The legendary Queen guitarist Sir Brian May has declared that humanity has no need for artificial intelligence, warning…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":735333,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[554,733,4308,830,128,86,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-735332","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-artificial-intelligence","tag-ai","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-artificialintelligence","tag-celebrity","tag-music","tag-technology","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/735332","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=735332"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/735332\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/735333"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=735332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=735332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=735332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}