Writers, film producers, musicians, photographers, and publishers in the UK are protesting against the government’s plan to create a copyright exception for the artificial intelligence (AI) industry. The proposed rule would allow companies like OpenAI, Google, and Meta to train their language models more easily. Creators and rights holders would need to actively opt-out to prevent their protected works from being used without permission. The Creative Rights in AI Coalition argues this opt-out approach is wrong, emphasizing the importance of respecting and enforcing copyright laws. AI developers should be required to obtain permissions and purchase licenses.
The Guardian, part of the coalition along with associations from the British music industry, independent composers, the Motion Picture Association, the Society of Authors, and media companies like the Financial Times, Telegraph, Getty Images, and the Daily Mail Group, reported on the issue. Before the consultation launched on Tuesday, which runs until February 25, the coalition highlighted that the UK’s leading creative and tech sectors put the country in a unique position to set a global standard for collaboration and innovation. Protecting copyright and establishing a dynamic licensing market for using creative content in AI development is not just about fairness but essential for both sectors to thrive.
Last week, prominent British creatives like Paul McCartney and Kate Bush called for stopping AI companies that violate copyrights. Along with actors like Julianne Moore, Stephen Fry, and Hugh Bonneville, they signed a petition already supported by over 37,500 people. The petition states that the unlicensed use of creative works for training AI poses a significant and unfair threat to the livelihoods of those behind these works. During a debate in the House of Lords, director and producer Beeban Kidron compared the proposed system to allowing shop owners only an opt-out against shoplifters.
Kidron warned that the government is considering giving away the foundation of the UK’s creative sector, valued at 126 billion pounds annually. British tech and culture minister Chris Bryant countered in Parliament, stating the system would improve access to content for AI developers while allowing rights holders to control how their content is used for AI training. An opt-in system might lead international developers to train their models with British content accessed abroad, potentially restricting their use in the UK. This could disadvantage the creative industry and undermine British AI developers.
The industry association Tech UK advocates for a more open market, enabling companies to use protected data and pay for it. A similar debate is happening in other countries. According to a study by the Copyright Initiative, replicating works through generative AI models constitutes a copyright-relevant reproduction and is illegal. Training such systems does not fall under the text and data mining exception.