In response to a report from The Minderoo Centre for Technology and Democracy at the University of Cambridge, which has cautioned against the government’s proposals to degrade copyright law in favour of AI firms, News Media Association Chief Executive Owen Meredith has said:
“The findings of this expert academic report echo what creators have been saying for months: that there is no evidence that a sweeping new text and data mining exception will stimulate growth or lead to AI innovation and investment in the UK.
“We agree economic analysis of the impact of an ‘opt-out’ is urgently needed, something that the government has so far failed to do despite their plans to put the UK’s £126 billion creative industries at risk.
“We also welcome the report’s clear statement that scraping works from the internet without permission is prohibited under UK law and agree that the government should adopt transparency requirements to ensure that the provenance of data in AI models is disclosed to the rights holder.
“Taken together, the report’s recommendations closely mirror the principles of Baroness Beeban Kidron’s copyright and AI amendments which have been voted into the Data (Use and Access) Bill. We hope the government and MPs scrutinising the provisions will consider the findings of this report.”
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