UK government's AI action plan opens new front in creators' battle for copyright
Ministers are accused of already making minds up over copyright overhaul despite consultation having six weeks to run
THE UK GOVERNMENT’S AI action plan has prompted claims that ministers have already decided to back the hi-techs’ demands on copyright, despite a consultation on the issue still having six weeks to run. Prime minister Keir Starmer said his government was backing all 50 action plan recommendations in a bid to “turbocharge growth” and make Britain — currently the third largest AI market — “the world leader”. “The AI industry needs a government that is on its side, one that won’t sit back and let opportunities slip through its fingers.”
At the weekend technology minister Peter Kyle told The Observer he was “100% in listening mode” in the consultation over an overhaul of UK copyright laws that will allow AI developers to train their generative models on creators’ content unless rights holders opt out. Creators say that would be unworkable and are calling for an opt-in arrangement instead.
Recommendation 24 of the AI Opportunities Action Plan — drawn up by venture capitalist Matt Clifford — urges the government to “reform” the current regime so “it is at least as competitive as the EU”. While the EU’s text and data mining (TDM) exemption grants creators an opt out, a coalition of European creators’ organisations last month wrote an open letter to the European Commission saying the legal framework “fails to adequately protect the rights of our creative communities and the value of their cultural works”.
Clifford’s recommendation goes on to say that “current uncertainty around intellectual property (IP) is hindering innovation and undermining our broader ambitions for AI, as well as the growth of our creative industries” and needed to be “urgently resolved”.
Lord Clement-Jones, Liberal Democrat spokesperson on science, innovation and technology in the Lords, told Charting Gen AI the view that the UK needed to “open up our copyright laws” in a similar fashion to the EU “totally ignores the fact that opting out of the EU TDM exemption is so opaque”. “They’re effectively steamrollering this through. This idea that regulation or even copyright is the enemy of innovation is a really unfortunate and unwelcome carry over from the last government. We expected better,” added Lord Clement-Jones.
Isabelle Doran, CEO of the Association of Photographers, told Charting the UK’s copyright framework was “clear and simple to understand and doesn’t need reforming”. She asked: “Would we say to shopkeepers or supermarkets, the rules for shopping are unclear and need to be reformed, so that shoplifters can continue to take what they want illegally, then repackage and resell things to the public?” Doran added: “We have been given reassurances that the government has not yet made up its mind, but it’s very difficult to feel any confidence when you see these terms being used.”
Publishers Association CEO Dan Conway said the UK would be able to “seize all the growth opportunities associated with AI without facilitating a US tech-led heist of UK copyrighted works”, adding it was “imperative” that recommendation 24 wasn’t a “fait accompli”. “We will be seeking assurances that all options — including enforcing the existing gold standard copyright regime with transparency provisions — remain under full consideration and proper scrutiny.”
Dawn Alford, executive director of the Society of Editors, paraphrased Starmer’s statement, saying: “Our creative industries need a government that is on their side, helping to build a world-leading AI industry that collaborates with, not undermines, the creative and news sectors.” Commenting on Substack, Ed Newton-Rex, CEO of the ethical AI non-profit Fairly Trained, said he admired much of Clifford’s action plan but recommendation 24 amounted to a “huge own goal for the country” and a “gift for AI company CEOs, who have played fast and loose with copyright law in the hope of getting too big to be regulated”. “You just have to look at the roster of AI companies lining up to praise the plan — many of which are being sued for copyright infringement on a truly vast scale — to see this.”
More reaction to the action plan and other gen AI developments that threaten to reshape the human-made media landscape in Friday’s Weekly Newsletter
Totally understand the concerns about copyright protection. However, I think it's important that UK aligns its copyright and AI laws with those of our European neighbours. The opt-out solution is not perfect, and currently it's technically challenging. However, the Internet Task Force is working on a robots.txt based solution which should be implemented.