Sector welcomes U-turn on ‘opt-out’ AI mechanism

Sector leaders have welcomed the announcement that the government’s preferred way forward no longer includes enabling artificial intelligence (AI) developers to train on copyrighted works, unless creators opt out.

In a report published today (18 March) by the Departments for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) and Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) considering the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025, the government said its mind had been changed “in light of the strong views” heard during the consultation period.

A consultation on the issue published at the end of 2024 said the government’s preferred way forward was to grant a broad data mining exception to copyright and related laws with opt-out and transparency methods.

The announcement attracted criticism from the arts sector, with the likes of performers’ union Equity and UK Music arguing this would negatively impact creators.

In a statement accompanying the report, Science, Innovation and Technology Secretary Liz Kendall said the original approach was “overwhelmingly rejected by the vast majority of the creative industries”.

She continued: “We have listened. We have engaged extensively with creatives, AI firms, industry bodies, unions, academics and AI adopters, and that engagement has shaped our approach.

“This is why we can confirm today that the government no longer has a preferred option.”

Saying the government needs to “take time” to ensure the challenges of balancing copyright law and AI development, Kendall added: “The UK has always led in science, creativity and innovation. We reject any suggestion that we must choose between our creative industries and the UK’s AI sector.

“Both are central to the government’s industrial strategy and vital to the UK’s future prosperity.”

A recent House of Lords report warned the creative industries should not be sacrificed for “speculative AI gains”.

Leading music lawyer and managing partner EME at Reed Smith LLP Gregor Pryor told Arts Professional the government has “a difficult role” in striking “a balance” between furthering growth in the AI sector and protecting creators.

Pryor said: “The mood music from the tech companies is that they want to be able to mine data to be able to create LLMs [large language models].

“I think what’s happened is the creative industries have done quite a good job of pushing back on that and saying it can’t be the case that creators don’t get paid when their work is used to train LLMs.”

He said there was “much to celebrate” for the arts sector, even though the report “does not go so far as recommending wholesale changes to the law in favour of creators”.

The report said many creative industry respondents to the consultation believe an opt-out method would be “impractical”, though concerns were raised by some in AI and research sectors who felt without it the UK could fall behind on technology development.

Four areas of work were identified for focus: consulting on how to address the potential harms of digital replicas while protecting legitimate innovation; establishing a taskforce to propose how best to label AI content to protect against disinformation; publishing a review of the mechanisms available for creators to control their works online; and launching a working group to explore whether there is a role for government to support organisations’ abilities to license their content.

Pryor said: “The report overall represents more of a free market approach than perhaps expected, where the UK will be inclined to try and let the market develop its own standards, with less intervention and perhaps some time to wait and see how law, regulation and practice develop in other countries.”

The sector reacts

UK Music chief executive Tom Kiehl welcomed the announcement that plans to allow AI firms to use copyrighted works without permission had been ditched, saying it marks a “major victory” for those who campaigned against it.

He said: “We’re delighted the government has scrapped what would have been a deeply damaging change to the use of copyrighted works. We urge them to go further and rule out resurrecting this plan throughout their period in office.

“It remains vitally important that the government does not now consider any kind of alternative copyright exception that would negatively impact creators and rightsholders in the music industry.”

Performers’ union Equity was also pleased with the roll back on the ‘opt-out’ exception to copyright for AI training, with its general secretary Paul W Fleming hailing it as “recognition that selling out the UK’s creative industries to benefit US tech companies would’ve been an act of national self-sabotage.”

Fleming also said the union looked forward to working with the government on measures for digital replicas aiming to protect against unauthorised and unpaid use of performers’ voice and likeness.

Society of London Theatre and UK Theatre, the Design and Artists Copyright Society (DACS) and the Ivors Academy, which represents songwriters and composers, were also among those who welcomed the news.