The fast-paced development of artificial intelligence (AI), and in particular the need for large volumes of data during training of large language models (LLMs), has led to increased scrutiny of the way that copyright law applies to such activity.
It has become clear that rights holders are finding it difficult to control the use of their works in the training of AI models and seek greater ability to control their use and/or be remunerated for it. AI developers are similarly finding it difficult to navigate copyright law in the UK, which affects investment in and adoption of AI technology.
AI technology has enormous potential to drive economic growth, through productivity improvements and technological innovation, and to stimulate more effective public service design and delivery. These are opportunities that the United Kingdom cannot afford to miss and that is why AI, alongside other technologies, will support the delivery of our five national missions.
The UK is also home to world-leading creative industries, which has been identified as a growth-driving sector in the Government’s industrial strategy. Supporting their continued success is vital to our national mission to grow our economy, as well as safeguarding our culture and identity.
At present, the application of UK copyright law to the training of AI models is disputed. This uncertainty is holding back innovation and undermining growth in our AI sector and creative industries.
We believe that action is needed now. That is why we are today publishing a consultation on how we can deliver a viable solution that achieves our key objectives for the AI and creative industry sectors. These are:
To support rights holders to continue to exercise control over use of their content and ability to seek remuneration for its use,
To promote greater trust and transparency between the sectors, and
To support the development of world-leading AI models in the UK by ensuring wide and lawful access to high-quality data.
The consultation published today jointly by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, sets out a package of interventions that we believe could address the needs of both sectors.
The proposals include a mechanism for rights holders to reserve their rights, enabling them to license and be paid for the use of their work in AI training. Alongside this, we propose an exception to support use at scale of a wide range of material by AI developers where rights have not been reserved. We are conscious that this combination will only work if a workable technical system of rights reservation can be brought in.
The consultation also includes proposals to support greater transparency from AI developers about what material they are using and how they acquire it, and measures to ensure that rights can be reserved easily, and right holders’ decisions can be enforced. It also considers several issues relating to the outputs of generative AI. These include questions about labelling of AI-created outputs and the extent to which they should be protected by copyright, as well as questions about digital replicas where AI is used to generate material that mimics the voice or appearance of existing performers.
Our aim is to find a balance that supports growth in both the AI and creative industries sector, by providing a clear and simple legal basis for access to large volumes of data for training purposes, while enabling rights holders to exert control and secure payment. Our hope is that the eventual solution will provide clear routes to licensing of intellectual property and legal certainty for all.
We very much welcome responses to the consultation from creators, copyright owners, AI developers and technology users. We look forward to receiving feedback through the consultation on whether the proposals achieve this balance.
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