The Culture, Media and Sport Committee warned in a report released on August 30 that the government’s initial proposal to exempt text and data mining by AI from copyright protections “risks reducing arts and cultural production to mere ‘inputs’ in AI development” and demonstrates a “clear lack of understanding” for the needs of the United Kingdom’s creators.
The research asserted that following its “abortive attempt” to enact exemptions for AI developers, the U.K. government, which is currently presided over by the pro-AI Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, must try to “regain the trust” of the creative sectors.
The committee, a bipartisan group of 11 British lawmakers, requested Sunak to strengthen artist safeguards in order to safeguard their likeness in the face of the explosive expansion of generative AI.
In a press release issued in conjunction with the report, the committee’s chair, Dame Caroline Dinenage, stated that “the chorus of warnings from musicians, authors, and artists about the real and lasting harm [and] failure to protect intellectual property in a world where the influence of AI is growing should be enough for Ministers to sit up and take notice.”
The committee came to the conclusion in its report that all levels of government “need to better understand the impact of AI, and technology more broadly, on the creative industries and be able to defend their interests consistently.”
