AI and copyright – anything ‘freely available’ online is fair game, according to Google

On the final day of in-person expert testimony last week, the UK Government's House of Lords’ Communications and Digital Committee questioned Google, big beast in waiting of the AI industry, as the Inquiry into AI and copyright closed.

The expert cross-party Committee of Parliament’s upper chamber has been hosting the Inquiry since 3 November, as the government grapples – ineffectually – with the same questions. (No 10’s achievement to date: three years of inaction which have served US vendors’ interests).

In the hot seat was Roxanne Carter, Google’s Global IP Lead for Government Affairs and Public Policy. Chair Baroness Keeley got straight to the point. Would Google agree that UK creative industries’ rightsholders should receive payment or revenue share when their works are used by AI systems? Yes, or no?

Alas, Carter defaulted to ‘telling experts how to do their job’ mode:

This is an important and timely ...