If dystopian fiction has taught us anything, it’s that the battle between AI and creators is not an equal fight. It’s one that often involves hubristic humans falling under the control of an AI with superior intellect and sentience, à la HAL 9000, Skynet or Agent Smith. In these stories, we tend to root for the humans in all our proud, flawed and creative glory, because we are just that: proud, flawed and creative beings. We also have bills that need paying.
Unfortunately for UK creatives, the British government doesn’t appear to feel the same. In a recent consultation paper, the government has proposed an amendment to copyright law to enable AI developers to freely use copyrighted material (e.g., images, literature and music) to train machine-learning models, unless the rights holder expressly opts out. The government says the changes will clarify the present framework and strengthen protections for creative industries while also expanding its AI sector.
As it stands, copyright exceptions under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 are limited. Text and data mining of copyrighted material is only permitted for non-commercial purposes provided the end user has lawful access to those works, such as through a licence or subscription. Under the proposed changes, the data mining exception will expand AI developers’ access to web-based material.
AI developers may receive greater clarity on how they can use UK-based data, but creatives have concerns. The changes will put the onus on rights holders to actively opt out, and there remains uncertainty around disclosure requirements for AI developers regarding their use of copyrighted works and the process for rights holders to assert their rights. While these changes create opportunities for rights holders to negotiate licensing agreements, individuals and small businesses could face challenges due to unequal bargaining power with large AI developers.
British artists, authors, journalists and other creators have come out strongly against the proposal, accusing the government of favouring big tech over British creativity. Through the ‘Make it Fair’ campaign, these creatives are aiming to raise public awareness about what they view as an ‘existential threat posed to the creative industries from generative AI models, many of which scrape creative content from the internet without permission, acknowledgement, and critically, without payment.’ The Guardian and The Times splashed ‘Make it Fair’ across their front pages, published supportive editorials, and 1000 music artists produced a silent album.
The consultation results are still pending, but with over 2500 responses submitted and the ‘Make it Fair’ campaign gaining momentum, one thing is certain – UK creatives aren’t backing down without a fight.
Tamara Markus, CMT Research Assistant