A new coalition of rights holders including publishers, authors, artists, music businesses, specialist interest publications, unions, and photographers earlier this week called on government to spur growth in the creative and tech sectors by protecting copyright ahead of its consultation.
Launched on Monday, the Creative Rights in AI Coalition published three key principles for copyright and GAI policy and a statement supported by all member organisations. The coalition said it was calling on government to adopt the principles as a framework for developing AI policy.
The launch is accompanied by the publication of new nationally representative public polling from Reset Tech and YouGov which found that the public overwhelmingly back transparency in the training of AI models and the payment of royalties to content creators by tech firms, added the coalition.
Seventy-two per cent of respondents said AI companies should be required to pay royalties to the creators of text, audio, or video that they use to train AI models, while 80 per cent said AI companies should be required to make public all the information that their models have been trained upon, the coalition continued.
In the statement, the coalition said on Monday: “The UK’s world-leading creative and tech sectors put it in a unique position to set a global standard for how both sectors can innovate together and continue to provide high quality services.
“Protecting copyright and building a dynamic licensing market for the use of creative content in building generative AI (GAI) isn’t just a question of fairness: it’s the only way that both sectors will flourish and grow.
“The UK creative industries generate well over £100 billion annually. We have, quite literally, earned the right to have our voice heard. The key to that success, and future growth, is copyright law.”
The coalition says its three principles for AI policy focus on a dynamic licensing market with robust protections for copyright, control and transparency for content creators, and driving growth and innovation in the creative and tech sectors.
The coalition added: “We support the government’s mission for long-term, secure growth in the creative and tech sectors. We are eager to see the development of a vibrant licensing market and support the sectors which rely on us for their future prosperity, but we can only do so with a robust copyright framework which preserves our exclusive rights to control our works and thereby act as a safeguard against misuse.
“Ours is a positive vision, a vision of collaboration between the creative industries and GAI developers, where we can all flourish in the online marketplace. We call on the government and the tech sector to join us in building a future that values, protects, and promotes human creativity.”
The Creative Rights In AI Coalition – Principles are as follows:
- IP and a dynamic licensing market: UK copyright law grants intellectual property owners, including tech companies, exclusive rights over their works, which includes control over the granting of a licence for uses of those works. Copyright protected works are a valuable resource for building and operationalising generative AI tools, products and services. Despite acknowledging this value, generative AI developers have largely exploited such content without permission, ignoring copyright protections and clear reservations of rights. A mutually beneficial, dynamic licensing market is feasible and desirable but can only flourish if there is respect for copyright, underwritten by robust mechanisms to ensure accountability and compliance.
- Transparency: The Government should focus on solutions which ensure the Creative Industries can meaningfully exercise their exclusive rights, including if and how their copyrighted content can be collected and used by generative AI developers. Transparency is therefore essential in supporting accountability for copyright infringement and must be designed to incentivise compliance with copyright law, fostering a mutually beneficial partnership between generative AI developers and the Creative Industries.
- Growth and innovation: The UK Creative Industries are an economic powerhouse with huge growth potential, as well as wielding immense cultural and soft power significance. A dynamic content licensing market, underpinned by robust copyright protections, will drive growth and innovation in the Creative Industries and generate value for society and the UK economy at large. This is also essential for future growth in the generative AI sector, which is reliant on a sustainable supply of high-quality, human-authored copyright works, without which it risks collapse.
The coalition's statement is reproduced in full below:
The UK’s world-leading creative and tech sectors put it in a unique position to set a global standard for how both sectors can innovate together and continue to provide high quality services. Protecting copyright and building a dynamic licensing market for the use of creative content in building generative AI (GAI) isn’t just a question of fairness: it’s the only way that both sectors will flourish and grow.
The UK creative industries generate well over £100 billion annually. We have, quite literally, earned the right to have our voice heard. The key to that success, and future growth, is copyright law.
Retaining the UK’s gold standard copyright protections - and ensuring the law is enforceable and respected in the face of the challenges posed by GAI - will create incentives for GAI developers to enter into licence agreements with rights holders, ensuring a steady flow of quality, human-authored works for GAI training. Without proper control and remuneration for creators, investment in high-quality content will fall. GAI innovation will inevitably stall, and value will drain from both the tech and creative industries which contribute so much to the UK economy and quality of life.
Instead, the Government has a golden opportunity to drive growth in both the creative and tech sectors. We must ensure the onus will be on GAI firms to seek permission and engage with rights holders to agree licences: just as tech firms are content to pay for the huge quantity of electricity that powers their data centres, they must be content to pay for the high-quality copyright-protected works which are essential to train and ground accurate GAI models.
We support the Government’s mission for long-term, secure growth in the creative and tech sectors. We are eager to see the development of a vibrant licensing market and support the sectors which rely on us for their future prosperity, but we can only do so with a robust copyright framework which preserves our exclusive rights to control our works and thereby act as a safeguard against misuse.
Ours is a positive vision, a vision of collaboration between the creative industries and GAI developers, where we can all flourish in the online marketplace. We call on the Government and the tech sector to join us in building a future that values, protects, and promotes human creativity.
Keep up-to-date with publishing news: sign up here for InPubWeekly, our free weekly e-newsletter.
