Open consultation: Copyright and Artificial Intelligence

Two major strengths of the UK economy are its creative industries and AI sector. Both are essential to drive economic growth and deliver the government’s Plan for Change.

The government is determined to build on the strengths of the UK AI sector, and will set out an ambitious roadmap leveraging AI to grow the economy and improve public services through the AI Opportunities Action Plan.

The government also recognises the continued economic and cultural contributions of our world-leading creative industries.    

Copyright is a key pillar of our creative economy. It exists to help creators control the use of their works and allows them to seek payment for it. However, the widespread use of copyright material for training AI models has presented new challenges for the UK’s copyright framework, and many rights holders have found it difficult to exercise their rights in this context. It is important that copyright continues to support the UK’s world-leading creative industries and creates the conditions for AI innovation that allows them to share in the benefits of these new technologies.

This consultation seeks views on proposals to deliver against the government’s objectives for this area, which are:

• boosting trust and transparency between sectors, by ensuring AI developers provide right holders with greater clarity about how they use their material.
• enhancing right holders’ control over whether or not their works are used to train AI models, and their ability to be paid for its use where they so wish.
• ensuring AI developers have access to high-quality material to train leading AI models in the UK and support innovation across the UK AI sector.

Additionally, the consultation addresses other emerging issues, including copyright protection for computer-generated works, and the issue of digital replicas.

As AI evolves rapidly, the UK’s response must adapt. The consultation is an opportunity for anyone with an interest in these issues to share their views and provide evidence regarding the economic impact of these proposals. During the consultation, we will also run wider engagement activity to help ensure that the full range of views is heard.

This consultation will run for 10 weeks. It commences on 17 December 2024 and will close on 25 February 2025.