Blog - 29/01/2025
Intellectual Property
Copyright vs AI: The UK Government launches new Copyright and AI Consultation
On December 17, 2024, the UK Government launched a public consultation titled ‘Copyright and Artificial Intelligence’ (Copyright and AI Consultation), seeking opinions on proposed major reforms to the UK’s copyright framework. The proposed changes aim to introduce an EU-style broad text and data mining (TDM) exception, which would permit a broader use of lawfully accessible copyright-protected materials by AI providers and users for commercial purposes, including for AI model training unless the rights holder has pro-actively taken steps to “opt out” of the exception.
One of the key objectives of the UK Government’s proposal is to support AI innovation by giving AI developers a wider right to use data they have lawful access to in order to achieve the necessary scale needed to train their AI models. It is recognised that any restrictions placed on the use of data or issues caused by unequal access to data or lack of access to high-quality data severely inhibits the successful development of large-scale learning models and their outputs.
This isn’t the first time, however, that the UK has sought to broaden the TDM exception. In June 2022, the UK Intellectual Property Office (IPO) proposed broadening the TDM exception to allow use of copyright-protected materials for any purpose (including a commercial one), without allowing rights holders to opt-out. Following backlash from rights holders, especially those in the creative industries who would lose significant revenues under TDM licences, the UK Government abandoned this proposal in February 2023.
The current proposal seeks a middle ground, resembling the EU’s Article 4 of the Digital Single Market Copyright Directive (Directive (EU) 2019/790). The new TDM exception therefore operates as a half-way house between the existing narrow TDM exception in the UK under Section 29A of the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 (which only applies to copyright materials for non-commercial purposes) and the UK IPO’s proposal in 2022 (which did not allow right holders to opt out and reserve their rights). In its current proposal, the UK Government outlines its support for right holders to retain control of their content and be remunerated for its use. For this to happen, however, it is recognised that greater trust and transparency is needed, particularly from AI developers about what content is or has been used and how it is acquired. There must also be an effective opt-out system, allowing right holders to easily and proactively opt out to prevent their content from being used for TDM purposes.
The UK Government has invited feedback on how to resolve these issues, indicating that collective rights management organisations may play a significant role in developing licensing solutions. The consultation also seeks views on whether the current legal framework adequately protects performers from unauthorised use of their likeness in AI-generated content, such as deepfakes.
Concluding thoughts
The UK Government’s proposal hopes to balance right holders’ ability to seek remuneration and protection of their works while providing a clear legal basis for AI training with copyright material. This will give developers the ability train leading models in the UK while respecting the rights of right holders. For this approach to work, AI developers will need to adopt greater transparency – transparency about the material they use to train models, how they acquire it, and about the content generated by their models. Such measures could include developers having to disclose the use of specific works and datasets, although this is likely to present practical challenges for AI developers when dealing with large quantities of work. Alternatively, the UK could follow the EU’s approach under Article 53(1)(d) EU AI Act which recently introduced a requirement on AI developers to make publicly available a “sufficiently detailed summary” of training content.
The Copyright and AI Consultation is open until 25 February 2025 and is an opportunity for anyone with an interest to share their views on these proposals. Post-consultation, the UK Government will review the responses and outline its future plans, likely leading to further engagement before any legislative drafts are introduced. Please check back here for further updates.
We will continue to monitor the regulatory landscape for AI in the UK and EU and keep you updated as matters progress. Should you require any advice concerning the impact AI may have on your business, or if you have any questions in relation to this topic, please contact Selina Clifford or any member of our AI Team.
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