The Creative Rights In AI Coalition has called the UK government’s new AI Opportunities Action Plan, published on Monday, “deeply concerning” based on what it says about copyright.
Last month the government launched a ten week consultation seeking feedback on four possible options for dealing with the copyright concerns raised by artificial intelligence, but the Action Plan implies ministers have already picked one of those options.
The Action Plan seems to confirm that the government favours an option that would introduce a new text and data mining exception into UK copyright law, allowing AI companies to use existing content to train their models without getting permission from any copyright owners, except where those rights owners have formally opted out of the exception. This approach is similar to the system that already applies in the European Union.
The Action Plan says that the government should “reform the UK text and data mining regime so that it is at least as competitive as the EU”, adding that “the current uncertainty around intellectual property is hindering innovation and undermining our broader ambitions for AI, as well as the growth of our creative industries. This has gone on too long and needs to be urgently resolved”.
The Coalition, which launched last month to bring together companies and organisations from across the wider copyright industries, says “there is no ‘uncertainty’ in the UK text and data mining regime: it is clear that UK copyright law does not allow text and data mining for commercial purposes without a licence”.
According to the Coalition, the only uncertainty is what content has been used by AI companies without a licence and the solution to that problem is new rules that force those companies to be more transparent about training data.
The Action Plan also says that, with its existing text and data mining exception, “the EU has moved forward with an approach that is designed to support AI innovation while also enabling rightsholders to have control over the use of content they produce”. But, says the Coalition, the EU system is still being tested and “there are persistent questions over the workability of their opt-out regime”. Therefore “the UK should learn from the EU regime’s shortcomings, not blindly imitate it”.
The other options proposed in the government’s AI and copyright consultation include introducing an exception without opt-out; strengthening copyright law and requiring AI companies to always get licences when using existing content; and just leaving copyright law as it is.
The Coalition says “it is deeply concerning to see the EU approach looked to as a regime that the UK should mirror”. To that end, “we call on the government to provide assurances that all options in the copyright and AI consultation - including enforcing the existing copyright regime with transparency provisions - remain on the table”.
Record industry trade group BPI, which is part of the Coalition, echoes that demand. Its CEO Jo Twist notes that Prime Minister Keir Starmer told Parliament last month that his government would “carefully consider” all responses to its consultation. “Government must heed its own promise”, she adds, “and ensure there is genuine consultation to recognise and meaningfully address the grave concerns being raised across the UK’s £125 billion-per-year creative industries”.