Key figures from the UK creative sector have urged the government to rethink plans that would automatically include UK creative assets in generative AI modelling.
Former Bafta chair and producer Pippa Harris, Eon’s Barbara Broccoli and directors Paul King and Martin McDonagh are among those who signed a letter to The Times saying that proposed changes “represent a wholesale giveaway of rights and income from the UK creative sectors to big tech”.
The government’s AI and Copyright Consultation proposes introducing a new exemption in copyright law that would allow tech companies to train their AI models on creative works including films, TV shows and audio recordings without permission, unless creators actively opt out.
The letter said: “The proposal is wholly unnecessary and counterproductive, jeopardising not only the country’s international position as a beacon of creativity but also the resulting jobs, economic contribution and soft power — and especially harming new and young artists who represent our nation’s future.”
It adds: “The government should embrace the Kidron amendments introduced by the House of Lords into the Data (Use and Access) Bill. They are fair and they represent the best interests of the UK and its creative industries without undermining the development of AI.”
Further signatories to the letter include Andrew Lloyd Webber, Kate Bush, Paul McCartney, Ed Sheeran, Stephen Fry, Helen Fielding, Simon Rattle, Dua Lipa, Tom Stoppard and Sting.
With the consultation due to end today (February 25), many other arts organisations have also criticised the proposals and submitted feedback to the consultation.
TV heavyweights including All3Media, Banijay UK, the BBC and Channel 4 Fremantle, ITN, ITV and Sky have separately released a statement through Pact calling on greater safeguards for UK’s creative IP.
“We believe that AI developers should not scrape creative sector content without express permission and that a framework that supports licensing of copyright content for AI training is the best way for the UK to share in the opportunity created by AI,” the statement said.
The Writers’ Guild of Great Britain has also been urging its members to respond separately to the government consultation. It said: “The government’s proposed plans on AI and copyright will weaken your copyright protections and allow AI companies to use your work without permission or payment. But we are fighting back and we need our members to do the same.”
Directors UK outlined its stance on creatives having to proactively opt out of having their work being used to train AI models. “We’re opposed to this. We don’t think there’s any justification to copy without permission in the first place, and the proposal puts the onus on the copyright owner to actively assert their rights or lose them. What directors really need is a system that protects their copyright, and gives them transparency over how their work is being used by AI companies. We’re calling on creators across the industry to write to their MP, and ask them to make sure our creative talent is protected.”
Benjamin Field, founder and executive producer at Deep Fusion Films, a production company with a focus on using AI technology, said in his government submission: “I have spent years at the forefront of AI’s integration into creative industries, pioneering AI-driven productions that demonstrate how technology can be harnessed ethically to enhance storytelling, unlock new creative possibilities, and breathe life into legacy archives.
”However, I have also seen the risks when AI is used without ethical guardrails — when it takes rather than collaborates. The government’s current proposals, which would permit AI companies to scrape copyrighted content without permission unless creators actively opt out, represent a dangerous step towards undermining our creative sector’s future.”
He continued: “I urge you to support policies that protect the intellectual property of UK creators, ensure fair compensation for the use of their work, and maintain the UK’s global leadership in creative industries. Please do not allow the government to squander decades of hard-fought progress by prioritising AI companies over the people who make our cultural sector thrive.”
Performers’ union Equity said in its response to the government’s consultation: ”A text and data mining exception with rights reservation would reduce rightsholders’ control over their content, by forcing them to pursue new claims over rights that are guarateed by existing legal framekworks. It would also require that rightsholders have a detailed understanding of the law, and a relatively advanced understanding of computing.”
Additional reporting by Mona Tabbara
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