PA implores government to make ‘strong statement’ about IP and AI ahead of summit 

The Publishers Association has written to prime minister Rishi Sunak ahead of the upcoming Global Summit on AI, taking place this autumn, imploring the government to make a “strong statement” on the importance of upholding UK intellectual property law when training AI systems.

Chief executive Dan Conway’s letter, also addressed to Lucy Frazer, Secretary of State for Culture, Media & Sport; Viscount Camrose, minister for artificial intelligence and intellectual property and Adam Williams, c.e.o of the Intellectual Property Office, among others, reads: “On behalf of our industry and the wider content industries, we ask that your government makes a strong statement either as part of, or in parallel with, your summit to make clear that UK intellectual property law should be respected when any content is ingested by AI systems and a licence obtained in advance.

“The training of AI systems should be done transparently, with the consent of, and in a manner that credits and fairly compensates the creator or IP rights-holder i.e. under licence."

It adds that “this government has rightly recognised the huge growth potential of the creative and tech sectors and that is best achieved as equal partners” and that “we hope you will consider our request and support your relevant government departments in taking action that will put in place the right business conditions for AI development in the UK".

The global summit, which will take place on 1st and 2nd November at Bletchley Park, was first announced by Sunak in June after a meeting in Washington with US president Joe Biden. Billed as the first of its kind, it will, the government says, “consider the risks of AI, including frontier systems, and discuss how they can be mitigated through internationally co-ordinated action". It will also "provide a platform for countries to work together on further developing a shared approach to mitigate these risks".

The PA was among publishing organisations recently approached by the DCMS for their input on growing concerns surrounding AI and copyright, and have long been engaged with the government on the issue, particularly as regards concerns around IP. Louis Coiffait-Gunn, director of policy and public affairs, told The Bookseller the body was “in very close contact with all relevant arms of government on the development of AI regulation, and how it will impact the creative industries and publishing".

When the government published an AI white paper earlier this year, Conway responded as part of the consultation phase that “the scope of this particular consultation did not include intellectual property (IP) and in our response to the government today we’ve been clear that IP needs to be at the centre of AI regulatory thinking".

He added: “It is imperative that AI LLMs (large-language models) adhere to existing law, are transparent about any copyrighted content ingested, and seek to license that content from the rights-holder in the normal way. Investing in reputable data will build better systems, which in turn will help to fulfil the government’s welcome commitment to transparency, accountability and safety.” Conway’s full letter to the prime minister can be read here.