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Industry leaders urge Prime Minister to enforce copyright law after AI amendment rejected
Creatives and industry leaders have signed an open letter urging Prime Minister Keir Starmer to enforce copyright law. The news follows the rejection in the Commons on Wednesday (7th May) of an amendment to the Data (Use and Access) Bill, which would ensure copyright law was adhered to by tech companies.
The amendment would create a requirement for AI firms to tell copyright owners which individual works they have ingested. However, the Bill was passed without the amendment, and will return to the House of Lords, where a crunch vote on the plans will be held on Monday 12th May.
The letter calls on Sir Keir Starmer to back Baroness Beeban Kidron’s amendment to the Bill, which would give the UK creative industries "urgently needed transparency over the copyright works ingested by AI models". News Media’s Make It Fair campaign, which is behind the letter, said "this transparency would allow creators and creative businesses to hold AI firms accountable for the mass theft of creative works that continues to take place".
Among the signatories of the letter are authors Kazuo Ishiguro, Jeanette Winterson and Antonia Fraser, as well as Anna Ganley, Society of Authors chief executive, and Joanna Prior, CEO of Pan Macmillan, among many others.
The letter reads: "We will lose an immense growth opportunity if we give our work away at the behest of a handful of powerful overseas tech companies and with it our future income, the UK’s position as a creative powerhouse and any hope that the technology of daily life will embody the values and laws of the United Kingdom.
“The first job of any government is to protect its citizens. So, we urge His Majesty’s Government to accept the Lords’ amendments in the name of Baroness Kidron that put transparency at the heart of the copyright regime and allow both AI developers and creators to develop licensing regimes that will allow for human-created content well into the future. These amendments recognise the crucial role that creative content plays in the development of generative AI. They will spur a dynamic licensing market that will enhance the role of human creativity in the UK, positioning us as a key player in the global AI supply chain."
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Kidron said: "The creative industries welcome the new frontier of creativity offered by advances in AI, but how AI is developed and who it benefits are two of the most important questions of our time. The UK creative industries reflect our national stories, drive tourism, create wealth for the nation and provide 2.4 million jobs across our four nations. They must not be sacrificed to the interests of a handful of US tech companies. Nor should we underestimate the role of human creativity in the joy of being human, nor the need for common facts to cement our collective experience.
"The UK is in a unique position to take its place as a global player in the international AI supply chain, but to grasp that opportunity requires the transparency provided for in my amendments, which are essential to create a vibrant licensing market. I am grateful to the extraordinary list of signatories to today’s letter to the prime minister. Behind them stand the thousands of technicians, roadies, agents, costumers, make-up, set designers, production and post-production staff, sub-editors and many more who make their work possible. Today they are raising their voice for all those who make the UK an economic powerhouse of creativity and innovation. Most importantly, they are speaking out to ensure a positive future for the next generation of creators and innovators."
The campaign added that government amendments requiring an economic impact assessment and reports on the feasibility of an "opt-out" copyright regime and transparency requirements "do not meet the moment, but simply leave creators open to years of copyright theft".
