The News Media Association (NMA) says responding to the government’s response to the consultation “A pro-innovation approach to AI regulation,” News Media Association chief executive Owen Meredith has said:
“The government’s response to the AI consultation quite rightly acknowledges the widespread concerns of rights holders in how tech and AI developers use copyrighted material to train AI models without consent.
“Transparency is key, and we are pleased that the government will seek and explore mechanisms for delivering greater transparency from AI developers with the data they use.
“We also welcome the government’s stated commitment to the creative industries and to ensuring that AI development supports, rather than undermines, human creativity, innovation, and the provision of trustworthy information such as journalism.
“The NMA looks forward to playing a full part in this important work as it moves forward.”
The NMA has provided report excerpts for reference:
Enabling AI innovation and protecting intellectual property
27. The AI technology and creative sectors, as well as our media, are strongest when they work together in partnership. This government is committed to supporting these sectors so that they continue to flourish and are able to compete internationally. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) is working closely with publishers, the music industry, and other creative businesses to understand the impact of AI on these sectors, with a view to mitigating risks and capitalising on opportunities. Significant funding highlighted in the Creative Industries Sector Vision[footnote 44] will help enable AI-based R&D and innovation in the creative industries.
28. Creative industries and media organisations have particular concerns regarding copyright protections in the era of generative AI. Creative industries and rights holders are concerned at the large-scale use of copyright protected content for training AI models and have called for assurance that their ability to retain autonomy and control over their valuable work will be protected. At the same time, AI developers have emphasised that they need to be able to easily access a wide range of high-quality datasets to develop and train cutting-edge AI systems in the UK.
29. The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) convened a working group made up of rights holders and AI developers on the interaction between copyright and AI. The working group has provided a valuable forum for stakeholders to share their views. Unfortunately, it is now clear that the working group will not be able to agree an effective voluntary code.
30. DSIT and DCMS ministers will now lead a period of engagement with the AI and rights holder sectors, seeking to ensure the workability and effectiveness of an approach that allows the AI and creative sectors to grow together in partnership. The government is committed to the growth of our world-leading creative industries and we recognise the importance of ensuring AI development supports, rather than undermines, human creativity, innovation, and the provision of trustworthy information.
31. Our approach will need to be underpinned by trust and transparency between parties, with greater transparency from AI developers in relation to data inputs and the attribution of outputs having an important role to play. Our work will therefore also include exploring mechanisms for providing greater transparency so that rights holders can better understand whether content they produce is used as an input into AI models. The government wants to work closely with rights holders and AI developers to deliver this. Critical to all of this work will also be close engagement with international counterparts who are also working to address these issues. We will soon set out further proposals on the way forward.
The NMA says you can read more on this topic here.
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