The British government has launched a consultation on copyright issues in AI training. The core of the proposal is an "opt-out" system: rights holders need to actively prevent their works from being used for free by AI. The rise of generative AI has sparked intellectual property disputes, with many creatives objecting to their work being used without permission to train AI that in turn generates competing content. This article will analyze the British government’s proposal in detail, explore its potential impacts and challenges, and focus on the government’s efforts to balance the development of creative industries and AI.
The UK government is consulting on an "opt-out" copyright regime for AI training, which would require rights holders to take proactive steps to prevent their intellectual property becoming free material for AI training. With the rise of generative AI models trained on large amounts of data, intellectual property issues have become increasingly prominent. Many creatives strongly object to having their work used, without permission (or compensation), to train AI technologies that in turn generate competing content, including text, visuals, audio, or a combination of the three.
Fields such as visual arts, music, film production, and video games are all potential targets for generative AI. This kind of AI replaces the traditional (skilled) manual production process with highly scalable AI tools that can instantly generate content based on statistical analysis of information patterns in the training data by simply triggering the model through prompts.
With global attention focused on large language models (LLMs) such as OpenAI's GPT, and the popular chatbot ChatGPT based on it, the era of AI startups quietly scraping network data for model development is over.
Currently, AI companies are using licensing agreements to obtain specific types of content for use in training data, and a growing number of lawsuits are challenging the unlicensed use of intellectual property for AI training.
The situation urgently requires legal clarity, and the UK government said it hopes the consultation will inform policymakers in developing policy in this tricky area. Future UK policymaking is likely to include legislation "to provide legal certainty", although the government said it has not yet made a decision on this.
Currently, the British government is trying to strike a balance between supporting British creative industries and promoting AI investment and applications. However, this approach looks like an attempt to blur a position that favors the AI industry.
In the ministerial foreword to the consultation, the UK government wrote: "Our creative industries and AI sectors are both UK strengths. They are vital to our national mission to grow our economy. This consultation aims to develop a copyright and AI framework that will reward human creativity, encourage innovation and provide legal certainty for the long-term growth of both industries.”
There is no doubt that setting up an “opt-out” system for the use of intellectual property for AI training will put the onus on creatives to protect their work. This situation may put smaller creatives at a disadvantage compared to larger rights holders. Therefore, this approach is unlikely to be common or widely popular in creative fields.
AI companies have been actively lobbying for this "opt-out" system.
The government said in the consultation paper: "The proposal includes a mechanism for rights holders to retain their rights, enabling them to license their works for use in AI training and receive remuneration. At the same time, we recommend the creation of an exception to support AI Developers can use a variety of materials at scale, provided that rights in those materials are not retained. “This approach would balance the ability of rights holders to seek remuneration while providing a clear legal basis for AI training to use copyrighted material.” Developers are able to train leading models in the UK while respecting the rights of rights holders."
The government also noted that its "key objectives" for the creative and AI industries include "promoting greater trust and transparency between the two industries."
Its stated aims are to support rights holders to control their content and be compensated for its use, as well as to develop “the UK’s world-leading AI models” by ensuring broad and legal access to high-quality data. If the end result is not to disparage the interests of one of the industries, some subtlety will obviously be required.
As it stands, the AI industry appears to be getting a better deal from the Labor government.
Nonetheless, ministers stressed that any "interventions" ultimately proposed by the government must address the AI industry's lack of transparency. So while the government positions the proposed "opt-out" regime as "balanced," it also makes it clear that "greater transparency from AI developers" is a prerequisite for the approach to work.
Specifically, the government said this means "disclosing the materials they use to train their models, how they obtain them, and what their models generate." The government added: "This is vital to strengthening trust and we are seeking advice on how best to achieve this."
Another element highlighted by the government as necessary for an "opt-out" system to work effectively is the development of "simple technical means to enable creators to exercise their rights individually or collectively".
"This will require AI companies and creative industries to work together to create new technology systems that achieve the desired outcome of greater control and licensing of intellectual property," the government also suggested.
The government added: "This approach is designed to protect the interests of our creative industries and AI industries. However, achieving this successfully will not be easy. It requires practical technical solutions as well as good policy. We are open to this attitude, but we are optimistic that through collaboration across sectors and industries we can achieve success.”
The consultation will last for 10 weeks, ending on February 25, 2025. Web responses can be submitted through the online survey.
The government also said: “As AI develops rapidly, the UK’s response must adapt.” It positioned the consultation as a forum for “anyone with an interest in these issues to share their views and provide evidence on the economic impact of these proposals.” opportunities" and promised a "wider engagement campaign" during the consultation period to "ensure all views are heard".
The British government’s “opt-out” system proposal attempts to strike a balance between protecting the rights of the creative industries and promoting the development of AI, but its feasibility and fairness still face many challenges. Whether the final plan can truly achieve balance and take into account the interests of all parties remains to be seen. The results of the consultation will have an important impact on AI copyright legislation in the UK and around the world.