UK creative sector seeks copyright protection from AI companies

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Almost 40 British creative groups spanning publishers, authors, and photographers have urged the government to protect copyright rules of the more than £100bn-a-year industry ahead of a controversial consultation.

The Creative Rights in AI Coalition said a licensing market for the use of creative content in building generative AI was needed not just for fairness, but was also “the only way that both sectors will flourish and grow”. 

The newly formed group wants the government to adopt basic principles as a framework for developing AI policy, including a licensing market with protections for copyright, and ensuring that content creators have control of their work and are able to monitor how it is used.

The government is due to launch a consultation into AI and creative industries on Tuesday. The topic has become controversial because of concerns that AI companies are already reproducing much of the UK’s creative output without payment or attribution.

In a statement to the Financial Times, the coalition said: “The UK creative industries generate well over £100bn annually. We have, quite literally, earned the right to have our voice heard. The key to that success, and future growth, is copyright law.” 

The creation of the coalition reflects concerns that the industry has not been aligned in its approach with government over rules that will have huge implications on the work done by British authors, musicians, journalists and film makers. 

Organisations that have joined the coalition include Daily Mail owner DMG, PRS for Music, the News Media Association, the Publishers Association, Associated Press, Society of Editors, Pan Macmillan and the British Phonographic Industry. The Financial Times is also a member.

Text and data mining by generative AI systems involves the automated crawling and analysis of large parts of the internet, and is critical to AI development. 

But executives are concerned that the government will consult on rules that will make it difficult for copyright holders to strike deals over their work with AI companies. Many in the industry accuse AI companies of already having scraped their content and used for training purposes.

An attempt to create a voluntary code of conduct failed this year with both sides unable to agree on a position.

Culture secretary Lisa Nandy last week told a select committee of MPs that the government wanted to “to get the balance right” between encouraging technological advances and protecting the rights of the creative industries.

New public polling from Reset Tech and YouGov shows that the public overwhelmingly backs transparency in the training of AI models, and the payment of royalties to content creators by tech firms.