Our response to Government statement on AI and copyright progress
We are glad to see the Government move away from a broad copyright exception for AI training, which had prompted an unprecedented backlash from the creative industries last year.
We’re pleased that the Government has heard the message from writers and the wider creative sector and no longer views a broad copyright exception for AI training as its “preferred option”. When this featured in the consultation’s launch, it was widely criticised for being unfair to creators and deeply unbalanced in favour of the interests of AI developers, culminating in the Make It Fair campaign. In response to this widespread criticism, it is encouraging to see that the Government have taken the time to reset their approach and better engage with representatives from the creative industries, including ALCS.
In our response to the Governments consultation, we were clear that authors need to have control over the use of their work and fair compensation when it is used, with adequate transparency requirements from AI developers being the necessary first step to underpin authors’ rights. We’re encouraged to see these principles acknowledged in today’s statement and report.
In its statement, the Government acknowledged “people should be paid fairly for the work that they do” and affirmed their commitment to “help creatives control how their work is used.” In its Report on Copyright and Artificial Intelligence, the Government asserts that “any reform must ensure that right holders can be fairly rewarded for the economic value their work creates, and that they are protected against unlawful and unfair use of their work”.
The Government also proposed that it would “take steps to help right holders control and license their work, including through encouraging greater transparency”. It also announced that it intends “to develop best practice on input transparency, to help right holders assert their rights”.
ALCS Deputy Chief Executive Richard Combes said:
“The Government’s decision to move away from its previously ‘preferred option’ of a broad copyright exception and opt-out model is welcome and reflects the positive impact that its engagement with the creative industries, including ALCS, has had.
Our members rightly expect to have control over the use of their work and fair compensation when it is used, underpinned by adequate measures requiring transparency from AI developers. We look forward to working with the Government to ensure the principles it has set out today are implemented in practice, providing certainty for our world-class writers, whose work is pivotal to the continued success of the UK’s creative economy.”
We have been consulting with our members and partners to develop a licence for the use of works by generative AI systems, to ensure writers are able to exercise control over the use of their works, and the option of payment, if that is what they choose. The first stage of this licence was launched by the Publishers’ Licensing Services at last week’s London Book Fair.
We are pleased that the Government has created the necessary space for this to develop, and we hope that its plans going forward will seek to support and facilitate licensing models that give creators transparency, control and fair payment.
You can learn more about our work around AI here.
