AI and copyright – more inaction from the UK Government with its so-called ‘re-set’

The past 12 months have not been kind to the British Government’s policy on AI and copyright. Last Spring, for example, trade organization UKAI described Downing Street’s proposal to opt creators into their works training AIs by default as “misconceived”, “misguided”, “damaging”, and “divisive”. And this was the industry the government claimed to be helping!

Britain’s media and its $160 billion creative industries were united in their condemnation of the idea, with over 1,000 musicians including Kate Bush and Sir Paul McCartney recording an album of silence, titled ‘Is This What We Want?’ last year. This month, music platform Bandcamp announced that AI-generated content is banned; it won’t be the last provider to do that.

To cap it all, the Government’s public consultation on the issue – which Downing Street attempted to game by announcing its preference up front – found just three percent of the ...