The UK government has backtracked on its position on copyright and AI. Its original position – allowing AI companies to use copyrighted works to train their models with an opt-out option – received considerable backlash from the UK creative industry.
“We have listened,” Technology Secretary Liz Kendall said, revealing the government no longer favours that approach. But the new position is unclear, it “no longer has a preferred option” for what to do next. Kendall said the government had “engaged extensively” with people in the creative and AI industries.
The governemnt is attempting to balance the interests of the two sectors by giving creatives “control how their work is used”, while recognising AI models need to be trained on work such as writing, music and video. In a report published this week the government said there was “no consensus on how these objectives should be achieved”.
In a separate impact assessment, the govenment recognised the contributions both the creative sector and the AI industry make to the UK economy. It said UK culture is a “world-leading national asset”, while the AI industry is growing “23 times faster than the rest of the economy”.
The technology secretary’s announcement followed a consultation on the issue, which concluded the government’s initial plan was overwhelmingly rejected by the creative sector. But there was no firm conclusion on what happens next, with the government saying it would not reform copyright laws “until we are confident that they will meet our objectives for the economy and UK citizens.”
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