An overwhelming 88% of the 11,500 respondents to the UK government’s consultation on AI and copyright said they want to see copyright licenses required for all cases when training AI models on existing works.
This means creators must give explicit consent and receive payment if their work is used to train large language models.
The remaining options presented in the UK government’s consultation and published in a statement yesterday (November 15) in order of preference were: making no changes to copyright law (supported by 7% of respondents); introduction of an exception to copyright for all text and data mining purposes with rights reservation (supported by 3% of respondents, also known as the ‘opt out’ option, preferred by the UK government); and introduction of an exception to copyright for all text and data mining purposes with no rights reservation (supported by 0.5% of respondents).
Some 1.5% of respondents did not indicate a preferred option.
Creators and right holders, developers of AI models and applications, academics, researchers, cultural heritage organisations, and legal professionals were among the respondents to the government’s online callout.
The online consultation ended in February of this year.
There was also strong support across the creative industries for the introduction of statutory transparency measures in relation to AI training to support licensing of copyrighted works.
Respondents from the tech sector had mixed views on transparency, with many supporting non-legislative approaches or light-touch regulation. Regardless of their preferred option, respondents generally expressed a clear desire that future changes should minimise additional administrative or financial burdens.
Next steps
The government’s consultation on the AI and copyright issue has also included roundtables with representatives of the creative, media, and AI sectors and academia, who will continue to work on a full report and an economic impact assessment. It must be laid before parliament by March 18 2026.
The creative sectors have expressed frustration over the government’s approach to AI and copyright protections to date. UK creatives fear the Data (Use and Access) Bill, which passed in June, gives carte blanche to tech companies to train AI on copyrighted material without the consent of the rights holder. Culture secretary Lisa Nandy said at the time she was committed to working with the creative industries to help draft further AI legislation.
“Industrial-scale theft”
Writers Guild of Great Britain general secretary Ellie Peers said of the consultation response: “It’s loud and clear, there is widespread opposition from the creative industries to the government’s initial preferred option of an ‘opt out’ and a copyright exception for text and data mining. If we are to see an end to the industrial-scale theft of writers’ and other creators’ work, and to protect the creators and creative industries of the future, then UK copyright needs to be enforced not weakened. We will see whether ministers have been listening when they come back with their full report next year.”
Paul W Fleming, general secretary of UK performers’ union Equity, added: “The government must listen to the weight of the unequivocal view of consultation respondents.
“The results are overwhelming and a vindication for the creative industries. With 95% backing, strengthening or maintaining copyright protections, there is clear consensus on the need for protections. The government’s preferred option for a data mining exemption must be dead in the water, with only 3% of consultation respondents backing this unpopular proposal.”
Equity is running a ballot with its members, closing on December 18, to show whether Equity’s members who work in film and TV would be prepared to refuse to be digitally scanned on set to secure AI protections, a form of industrial action known as ‘action short of strike’, with public backing from actors Hugh Bonneville, Adrian Lester and Harriet Walter
No comments yet