UK creators defend their copyrights in the face of AI
The sudden emergence of generative AI has prompted extreme and conflicting reactions across the globe. Hailed as an unprecedented opportunity for innovation by some, the same technology is decried as an existential risk to humanity by others.
Nowhere is this polarisation more evident than within the creative sector, where excitement around the potential for a new frontier of artistic discovery is balanced with a desire to protect the uniqueness of human creativity at all costs.
Faced with an unprecedented rate of technological development, organisations across the creative sector have increasingly looked to policymakers, seeking regulation that promotes innovation whilst protecting their fundamental rights. However, as governments race to regulate AI, a stark and uncomfortable reality appears to be emerging: the interests of AI developers are antithetical to the demands of the creative sector.
This conflict of interest is compounded by an acute imbalance of power between the two industries. Whilst the promise of domestic innovation and hefty lobbying budgets grant “Big Tech” companies unprecedented access to policymakers, the creative sector has always struggled to illustrate its economic contribution and continues to lack an effective dialogue with government.
In an attempt to redress this imbalance, UK Music, a leading sector-wide NGO, has launched a new advocacy campaign directed at both the Conservative Government and the Labour Opposition. Calling on both parties to recognise the profound impact of AI on the creative sectors, the campaign seeks legislation to guarantee artists’ consent is obtained before their work is used to train AI technologies and the introduction of a fair payment system to compensate creators.
At the heart of its efforts lies a long running dispute over the status of intellectual property (IP) and copyrights in the UK. Under the existing IP framework, there is an exemption to copyright infringement if the creator’s work is being copied for the purpose of text and data mining (TDM) in a research capacity.
However, in June 2022 as part of an attempt to become “the most innovation-friendly country in the world”, the UK Government published a proposal to extend the TDM exemption for any use, with no rights-holder opt-out. As a result, the Government’s proposal would have allowed AI companies to utilise a creator’s work to train generative AI tools with no copyright protections, as long as the content was obtained legally. Whilst industry pushback eventually forced the Government to abandon its proposal, it has yet to respond with concrete plans to address the risks of copyright infringement faced by artists across the creative sector.
As a leading voice of UK Music’s AI delegation, Naomi Pohl, the Musicians’ Union (MU) General Secretary, has taken her concerns directly to 10 Downing Street. In a recent meeting with Government Ministers, Pohl presented the campaign’s five principles it believes should guide forthcoming regulation.
Creators’ choice: Regulation should ensure that the rights holder has the ultimate authority over whether their content is used to train AI tools. In direct opposition to the Government’s June 2022 proposal, the coalition opposes any exception to copyright for machine learning purposes.
Record keeping: At the input stage, tech platforms must keep a record of the content that is ingested before the algorithm creates new content. “Traceability by design” will ensure creatives can pursue legal redress in the event of copyright infringements.
Without human creativity there should be no copyright: The coalition believes that “AI generates, it never creates”. As a result, works derived solely from AI-generated content should not have copyright protections.
Labelling: Music generated by AI should be labelled as such, through common practices such as digital watermarking. The campaign stresses the importance of underst anding whether something is a human creation or not.
Protection of personality rights: Alongside strengthen-ing existing copyright protections, the campaign calls for a new personality right to be written into UK law to protect artists’ personality and image from misrepresentation, such as through an AI-generated deep fake.
Despite UK Music’s efforts, the Government has responded to industry concerns by promoting a voluntary code of conduct rather than additional legal protections. However, with the UK hosting the first global summit on AI regulation at Bletchley Park this November, the issue will soon force its way onto the Government’s agenda, with artists committed to “protect the sanctity of human creativity”.