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Publishers Association urges copyright reform rather than 'US tech-led heist of UK copyrighted works'
The Publishers Association (PA)’s chief executive Dan Conway has urged for copyright reform following the government’s newly published AI Opportunities Action Plan and warned against a “US tech-led heist of UK copyrighted works”.
The AI Opportunities Action Plan was published on Monday (13th January), led by Matt Clifford, setting out the government’s ambitions to create tech companies on a major scale. Science and technology secretary Peter Kyle told the BBC there was no reason why the UK could not create tech companies on the same scale as Google, Amazon and Apple.
In his forward in the report he wrote: “In this next phase of AI development, we want Britain to step up; to shape the AI revolution rather than wait to see how it shapes us. Because we believe Britain has a particular responsibility to provide global leadership in fairly and effectively seizing the opportunities of AI, as we have done on AI safety. That is why one of my first acts as Secretary of State was to commission Matt Clifford to devise an AI Opportunities Action Plan for the British government.
“This plan shows how we can shape the application of AI within a modern social market economy. We will do so by working closely with the world’s leading AI companies, Britain’s world-leading academics and entrepreneurs, and those talented individuals keen to start-up and scale-up their businesses here.”
However, Conway expressed concern over the emphasis of the plan. He told The Bookseller: “The power of AI to support growth and productivity has long been championed by publishers, both as AI innovators and users in their own right and as the curators of the high-quality content needed for the development of trusted and reliable AI models.
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“While we welcome the government’s recognition that our nation must not get left behind on the global stage, we need to move forward with due regard to copyright. The UK can achieve public service reform and seize all the growth opportunities associated with AI without facilitating a US tech-led heist of UK copyrighted works.
“With a consultation on copyright and AI still running it’s imperative that Matt Clifford’s recommendation that the UK reform text and data mining is not a fait accompli. We will be seeking assurances from ministers that all options – including enforcing the existing gold standard copyright regime with transparency provisions – remain under full consideration and proper scrutiny.”
He added: “The outcome of this consultation could have huge implications across the creative industries and there is a route to getting this right for all concerned – namely, by seizing the AI opportunities on offer without throwing the integrity of the copyright regime away.”
This week former Society of Authors’ (SoA) chief executive Nicola Solomon has also warned against the government becoming “beguiled by big tech” on this issue. “I’d like to think that the government doesn’t understand the effect of its proposals on creators, but I find that astonishing, because we’ve been making this case for a very long time,” she told The Bookseller.
Last month, the government also launched a consultation process “on proposals to give creative industries and AI developers clarity over copyright laws”, putting the pressure on creators to “opt out”. The Creators’ Rights Alliance – part of the Creative Rights in AI Coalition, along with the PA, SoA and Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society and 30 other members’ bodies – is gathering responses from members to meet the government’s 25th February consultation deadline.
