Britain’s ambitious new plan to make the country a major player in artificial intelligence has been praised by many tech and business leaders, but one aspect of the plan is causing concern among some copyright holders.
One of the many initiatives in the 50-point AI Opportunities Action Plan, tabled in Parliament on Monday (January 13), is a pledge to reform the UK’s text and data mining regime to make it “at least as competitive as the EU”.
“Current intellectual property (IP) uncertainty is hampering innovation, undermining our wider ambitions for artificial intelligence, and the growth of our creative industries,” the plan states.
“This matter has gone on for too long and needs to be addressed urgently. The EU has adopted an approach designed to support AI innovation while also enabling rights holders to control the use of the content they produce. The UK is falling behind.
This has prompted criticism from some observers, who worry that AI-friendly copyright reforms could undermine the value of intellectual property rights.
“Proposals to reform copyright law in favor of artificial intelligence companies are terrible news for the creative industries,” he said. Ed Newton-Rexfounder and CEO well trainedan article on LinkedIn.
“Proposals to reform copyright law in favor of artificial intelligence companies are terrible news for the creative industries.”
Ed Newton-Rex, trained
Fairly Trained is a non-profit organization that certifies ethically trained artificial intelligence models (i.e. unauthorized use of copyrighted content).
“We can reap all the benefits of this initiative and become a leader in artificial intelligence without having to subvert copyright laws,” added Newton-Rex, who resigned as vice president of audio in 2023. Stable artificial intelligence The company maintains that using copyrighted material to train artificial intelligence without permission amounts to “fair use” under U.S. copyright law.
Dan ConwayCEO Publishers AssociationA group representing book and journal publishers warned the reforms could lead to “a US tech-led robbery of UK copyright works”.
Conway noted in a LinkedIn post on Monday that parliament is currently consulting on artificial intelligence and copyright, and said the Publishers Association “will seek assurances from ministers that all options – including enforcing the existing gold standard copyright regime with transparency provisions – will be pursued” — will still be subject to restrictions.
Details of how the UK plans to reform copyright law are currently unclear, but references to the EU provide some guidance.
The EU Artificial Intelligence Bill promoted by Brussels is the world’s first comprehensive law governing artificial intelligence. The bill creates an “opt-out” system for artificial intelligence data exploration. AI developers can scour the web for copyrighted material to train their models, unless the copyright holder explicitly objects.
“The UK can deliver public service reform and seize all growth opportunities associated with artificial intelligence without assisting US tech-led looting of UK copyright works.”
Dan Conway, Publishers Association
This model has angered many music rights holders, who are pushing for an “opt-in” model in which AI developers cannot use copyrighted content to train artificial intelligence unless the copyright holder obtains permission. permission. They argue that the opt-out model unfairly places the onus on copyright owners to enforce their rights.
Still, some music professionals have used EU law to clarify that they do not consent to their copyrighted works being used for artificial intelligence without prior authorization.
In May last year, Sony Music Group A letter was sent to 700 AI developers and a music streaming service stating that it had chosen not to use its materials to train AI. One month later, Warner Music Group A letter was sent to tech companies informing them that they needed permission to use their content.
Another aspect of the proposed AI initiative aims to create a library of “copyright-licensed” media content for AI developers. According to the action plan, the so-called “British Media Asset Training Collection” may come from institutions such as the National Archives, the Natural History Museum, the British Library and the BBC.
The UK’s AI plans come as competition intensifies for a key role in the development of artificial intelligence, and there is an ongoing dispute between rights holders and technology companies over the use of copyright-protected works to train artificial intelligence models.
In the United States, copyright holders have filed numerous lawsuits against AI developers, accusing tech companies of using copyrighted material without permission to train their artificial intelligences.
Prominent among these are two lawsuits filed by: Sony Music Group, universal music groupand Warner Music Group be opposed to sun and sharea generative artificial intelligence service that enables users to quickly create entire songs based on text prompts.
Music professionals claim that Suno and Udio trained their models on their works, pointing to similarities between existing copyrighted songs and content created by AI music production platforms.
For their part, Suno and Udio pretty much admit that they may be using copyrighted material, but consider it “fair use.”
Artificial intelligence company Anthropic is using similar arguments to defend itself UMG, harmonyand ABCCO Anthropic’s Claude chatbot has been accused of plagiarizing copyrighted lyrics.
The UK’s Artificial Intelligence Action Plan focuses on the potential economic benefits of developing artificial intelligence and the potential efficiencies that artificial intelligence can bring to government services.
Citing data from the International Monetary Fund, the British government estimates that if artificial intelligence is fully developed, it will increase £47 billion ($57.1 billion) to the U.S. economy each year over a 10-year period.
The program has multiple technology companies committing to co-invest £14 billion ($17 billion) developed artificial intelligence in the UK, creating some 13,250 work in the process.
It also laid out plans to create new “artificial intelligence growth zones” where proposals to develop artificial intelligence infrastructure would be fast-tracked. The first area will be in Culham, Oxfordshire, home of the UK Atomic Energy Authority.
“Artificial intelligence will drive incredible change in our country. From personalized lessons for teachers, to supporting small businesses in record keeping, to speeding up planning applications, it has the potential to transform the lives of working people. Sir Keir Starmer said in a statement.
“But the AI industry needs a government on their side, a government that won’t stand by and let opportunities slip through our fingers. In a fiercely competitive world, we cannot stand by and watch. We must move fast and take action. Win the global competition.global music business
