Government opens consultation on the UK’s legal framework for AI and copyright
The UK Government has recently launched a consultation to seek views on how the government can ensure the UK’s legal framework for artificial intelligence (AI) and copyright supports the UK creative industries and AI sector together. The consultation is in the form of a survey, and will close on 25 February 2025.
Background
The UK Government considers that uncertainty in how copyright law applies to AI is holding back creative industries and the AI sector alike, and that there is a need to strike a balance between supporting the creative industries while removing barriers to AI innovation.
The proposal
The consultation proposes introducing an exception to copyright law for AI training for commercial purposes while allowing rights holders to reserve their rights, so that rights holders can control the use of their content. The UK Government hopes that, coupled with transparency requirements, this proposal would provide greater certainty and control to creators over how their content is used, and greater certainty to AI developers over what material they may and may not use for AI training.
Also proposed are new requirements for AI developers to be more transparent about how their AI training datasets have been obtained, thereby enabling rights holders to understand whether, and how their content has been used for training AI. The proposal also includes a mechanism for rights holders to reserve their rights, enabling them to license and be paid for the use of their work.
Copyright and AI consultation
Access the full consultation and the details of the proposal, presented to parliament by the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology:
Responses to the consultation on copyright and AI
Responses to the consultation can be made online via the following link:
Submit consultation responsesThe questions of the survey are fairly wide-ranging and provide an opportunity for interested parties to share their views on the UK Government’s proposal and how copyright and AI should be treated in the UK more generally. The consultation will close on 25 February 2025.
