A group of Members of Parliament (MPs) have voiced their criticism of the government’s handling of a proposed copyright exemption that would grant developers of artificial intelligence (AI) unrestricted use of copyrighted books and music for training purposes.
According to a report published by the Culture, Media, and Sport Committee on Wednesday, the Intellectual Property Office initially introduced the exemption in June 2022. However, by February, the government changed its stance in response to concerns raised by the creative industries and MPs. Conservative MP George Freeman, during a debate, stated that they did not wish to proceed with the original proposals.
The committee’s report highlights that the government’s handling of the exemption demonstrates a clear lack of understanding of the UK’s creative industries’ needs.
In light of these concerns, the MPs have recommended that the government refrain from implementing the exemption, as it risks reducing arts and cultural production to mere “inputs” for AI development. Committee chair Dame Caroline Dinenage MP emphasized that the chorus of warnings from musicians, authors, and artists about the potential harm of failing to protect intellectual property in an AI-driven world should be sufficient for ministers to pay attention.
The MPs argue that the current framework, which allows exemptions for non-commercial research purposes such as text and data mining and enables creators to license their work for any other purpose, strikes an appropriate balance between innovation and creator rights.
In addition, the committee suggests that the government work to rebuild trust following its “failed attempt” to introduce the exemption. To achieve this, the government must demonstrate a genuine understanding of the concerns expressed by the creative industries and develop a copyright and regulatory regime that effectively safeguards their interests in the face of AI’s disruptive impact on traditional cultural production, added Dame Dinenage.
Recent revelations of the use of pirated works by thousands of authors, including Zadie Smith, Stephen King, and Rachel Cusk, to train generative AI models have raised further concerns. These models generate content based on patterns identified in sample texts.
The music industry has also raised objections to AI-generated content. UK Music CEO Jamie Njoku-Goodwin described the exemption as a “green light to music laundering,” wherein AI companies essentially use unauthorized music copies to train their AI systems and then commercially benefit from legally “clean” new songs.
To address these issues, the committee suggests that the government establishes a regulation coordination unit and takes action to ensure that creators receive fair rewards under copyright regimes.
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