The Creators Rights Alliance, which brings together creator groups from across the creative industries in the UK, has sent letters to a number of technology companies urging them to respect copyright and other creators rights when developing generative AI technologies. Recipients of the letter include Microsoft, Google, Apple, Meta and OpenAI.
“We know that artificial intelligence, including generative Al programmes, can be useful tools”, the letter states. “However, to safeguard human creativity, truthful content and the rights of authors, creators and performers, it is vital that Al models are developed and used in a legal, sustainable and ethical manner”.
UK copyright law, it stresses, “does not allow copying” of existing works for AI training, “without the explicit consent of the creator or their licensee/appointed representatives”.
And, for the avoidance of doubt, creators represented by the organisations that make up the CRA, “do not authorise or otherwise grant permission for the use of any of their works protected by copyright and/or related rights (including performers rights) in relation to the training, development or operation of Al models”.
Therefore, “the large-scale copying” of creative works “carried out to date” by AI companies, “amounts to copyright infringement for which rightsholders and creators should be compensated”. Or, if a creator or rightsholder so chooses, “their works and derivations of those works” should be removed from the AI companies’ platforms.
The letter then makes seven specific requests of the technology companies, which mainly set out key arguments that have been made before by the music and other creative industries regarding the copyright and transparency obligations of AI companies.
However, interestingly, it also urges tech companies which are looking to do licensing deals with copyright owning companies to ensure that any creators represented by those companies have explicitly consented to their work being used to train generative AI.
Within the music community, there is generally consensus when it comes to the copyright obligations of AI companies. However, creator groups have also called on record labels and music publishers, which often own or control the copyright in recordings and songs, to seek explicit consent from artists and songwriters before allowing their music to be used to train AI
That includes the five organisations that make up the Council Of Music Makers, four of which are also part of the CRA.
So, while technology companies are urged “to obtain authorisation (in advance) from the relevant creator and rightsholder” before using existing works for AI training, the letter also says “where a rightsholder is licensing a catalogue of works” the tech firm should “seek assurances that the creators of those works have specifically consented to the licensing arrangement”.
The letter then concludes, “We urge developers to agree terms on a commercial basis with respective rightsholders and, where those rightsholders are not the creators themselves, to satisfy themselves that creators have given specific consent”.
“Licensing opportunities already exist and additional models are being developed to facilitate yet more good work”, it adds. “The CRA and its members would welcome your engagement in progressing these models to ensure that all our creative work makes for a prosperous and vibrant future for everyone”.
Music industry members of the CRA include the Featured Artists Coalition, the Independent Society Of Musicians, The Ivors Academy, the Music Managers Forum and the Musicians' Union.
Other signatories to the letter include the Association Of Author’s Agents, the Association of British Science Writers, the Association Of Illustrators, the Association Of Photographers, the Authors’ Licensing And Collecting Society, the British Association Of Picture Libraries And Agencies, British Equity Collection Society, Design And Artists Copyright Society, Directors UK, Equity, the National Union Of Journalists, the Picture Industry Collecting Society For Effective Licensing, The Royal Photographic Society, The Society Of Authors, the Society Of Artists Agents, and the Writers’ Guild Of Great Britain.