Researchers say there’s no proof copyright reform will boost investment.
Researchers at the University of Cambridge have published a new report – AI, Copyright, and Productivity in the Creative Industries – investigating the impact of generative AI (GenAI) on the UK’s creative industries.
The report is a collaboration between the Minderoo Centre for Technology and Democracy, the Bennett Institute for Public Policy, and ai@cam.
The report argues that the unregulated use of Generative AI in the UK economy will not necessarily lead to economic growth, and risks damaging the UK’s thriving creative sector.
Unresolved questions concerning copyright and AI are creating uncertainty for the future of several creative professions, and the UK Government’s proposed ‘opt-out’ solution is unlikely to protect creatives or inspire confidence that AI can be developed to benefit all.
Crucially, copyright arises automatically but the proposed solution in the Government’s consultation involves a ‘rights reservation’ model, which means the burden will fall on creators to actively opt-out of having their works used to train AI. Creators will have to protect their work from tech companies rather than having the assurance that a robust legal framework automatically safeguards their rights.
Such a regime is difficult to enforce; it assumes creators will always have the knowledge and resources to opt-out and they will have oversight of where on the internet their work is used. Companies have already proceeded to web scrape creative work. It is not clear how that data will be identified, labelled, and compensated, or even erased, should the creators opt-out.
A viable copyright regime that is fit for the AI era must centre creators; providing stronger transparency requirements for tech companies, guidelines that afford copyright only to human authors, and procedures for how AI companies vying for British copyrighted content will compensate creators.
The Minderoo Centre for Technology and Democracy calls on the Government to come up with a more human-centric copyright regime that ensures GenAI benefits the economy but does not compromise the rights and livelihoods of creators.
More balanced, purposeful economic analysis and policy intervention that account for the realities of AI innovation and creative work are the way forward if Britain truly values its creative industries.
Dr Ann Kristin Glenster, Senior Policy Advisor at the Minderoo Centre for Technology and lead author of the report, said:
“AI offers phenomenal opportunities for both the UK tech and creative sectors. However, policy proposals for an opt-out regime is a missed opportunity. Requiring rights-holders to reserve their rights will place an undue burden on creatives and risks allowing UK data assets to be web scraped for companies offshore.”
“Asking copyright reform to solve structural problems with AI is not the solution. Our research shows that the business case has yet to be made for an opt-out regime that will promote growth and innovation of the UK creative industries. Devising policies that enable the UK creative industries to benefit from AI should be the Government’s priority if it wants to see growth of both its creative and tech industries.”
Dame Diane Coyle DBE FAcSS, Co-Director of the Bennett Institute for Public Policy, said:
“The current lack of clarity about the licensing and regulation of training data use is a lose-lose situation. Creative professionals aren’t fairly compensated for their work being used to train AI models, while AI companies are hesitant to fully invest in the UK due to unclear legal frameworks. We propose mandatory transparency requirements for AI training data and standardised licensing agreements that properly value creative works. Without these guardrails, we risk undermining our valuable creative sector in the pursuit of uncertain benefits from AI.”
Professor Gina Neff, Executive Director at the Minderoo Centre for Technology and Democracy, said:
“Government’s proposed framework does not square with the enormity of the problem. Going the way of an opt-out model is telling Britain’s artists, musicians, and writers that tech industry profitability is more valuable than their creations. Ambitions to both strengthen the UK’s creative sector to bolster the British economy and spark innovation using GenAI in the UK can be achieved – but we will only get results that benefit all of us if we put people’s needs first.”
Neil Lawrence, DeepMind Professor of Machine Learning at the University of Cambridge and Chair of ai@cam, said:
“Uncertainty about copyright infringement is hindering the development of Generative AI for public benefit in the UK. The Government ought to commission research that engages directly with creatives, understanding where and how AI is benefiting and harming them, and use it to inform policies for supporting the sector’s workforce. Government has a critical role to play in encouraging and funding this research so that AI innovation addresses the challenges of everyday lives. For GenAI to be trusted and widely deployed, it should not make creative work more difficult.”
Read the report: AI, Copyright, and Productivity in the Creative Industries
The views and opinions expressed in this post are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the Bennett Institute for Public Policy.
