UK Government Consults on Challenges Between AI and Creative Industries

The United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office and two U.K. government departments – the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport – have today (17 December 2024) jointly launched a consultation seeking views on how the government of the United Kingdom can ensure the U.K.’s legal framework for AI and copyright best supports both the creative industries sector and the AI sector in the U.K.

As the consultation recognises, creative industries and AI are sectors in which the U.K. excels.  There is a risk, however, that AI will create increasing challenges to the country’s copyright framework, and thereby to the creative industries sector.  The consultation seeks views on the government's objectives under three broad heads:-

• Boosting transparency and trust by ensuring that AI developers provide rights holders with greater clarity about how their material is used.
• Enhancing rights holders’ control over whether and how their works are used to train AI models.
• Ensuring AI developers have access to high-quality material to train their AI models.

Among other things that will be taken into account in assessing where to balance these conflicting desires, is the economic impact of the different solutions.

The consultation is open to all, and anyone with a commercial interest in creative industries or AI sectors is encouraged to share their views.  The consultation runs for 10 weeks until 25 February 2025.  Further details, including information on how to respond, is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/copyright-and-artificial-intelligence.