The Publishers Association says it stands ready to embrace safe, secure and transparent AI that will benefit many across society. However, it is imperative that the UK’s world leading content industries are supported in parallel to AI development.
As equal partners, the creative and tech sectors show huge growth potential, continues the Publishers Association, which hopes that the government will consider the request and support the relevant government departments in taking action that will put in place the right business conditions for AI development in the UK.
Below is the text of Publishers Association CEO Dan Conway’s letter:
Rt Hon Rishi Sunak MP
Prime Minister
10 Downing Street
London, SW1A 2AA
Cc: The Rt Hon Lucy Frazer KC MP, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport; Viscount Camrose, Minister for Artificial Intelligence and Intellectual Property; Jonathan Black and Matthew Clifford, Prime Minister’s Representatives; Adam Williams, CEO, Intellectual Property Office.
Tuesday 29th August 2023
Dear Prime Minister,
Global Summit on AI: The importance of intellectual property to the success of safe artificial intelligence
I am writing to you on behalf of the UK’s world-leading publishing industry, which is a true UK global success story and a cornerstone of our country’s wider creative industries.
We write to strongly welcome the upcoming AI Safety Summit and to relay our full support for your ambition to harness new technology in a way which is safe and secure. We firmly agree that the UK should become a global leader in safe, transparent, and ultimately ethical AI that benefits everyone across society.
The UK’s content industries are world-leading and it is imperative that, in taking these steps to expand AI development, they are supported in parallel. The publishing industry is worth £7bn to the UK economy, employs 70,000 people, and supports hundreds of thousands of authors. But most importantly, we are far more than the sum of our parts when it comes to academic, educational and cultural output.
The publishing industry and the wider creative industries are underpinned by the UK’s gold-standard IP framework and I am writing to you with one request in this regard. On behalf of our industry and the wider content industries, we ask that your government makes a strong statement either as part of, or in parallel with, your Summit to make clear that UK intellectual property law should be respected when any content is ingested by AI systems and a licence obtained in advance. The training of AI systems should be done transparently, with the consent of, and in a manner that credits and fairly compensates the creator or IP rightsholder i.e. under licence.
This government has rightly recognised the huge growth potential of the creative and tech sectors and that is best achieved as equal partners. We hope you will consider our request and support your relevant government departments in taking action that will put in place the right business conditions for AI development in the UK.
Yours sincerely,
Dan Conway
CEO, Publishers Association
Keep up-to-date with publishing news: sign up here for InPubWeekly, our free weekly e-newsletter.
