AI and copyright – technical proposals and legal absurdity abound in UK Government Inquiry

The UK’s House of Lords’ Communications and Digital Committee’s Inquiry into AI and copyright continues this month, with a session on 13 January that will include testimony from Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology Liz Kendall, and Secretary of State for Culture, Media, and Sport Lisa Nandy, among others. An overdue popcorn session, then, postponed from this week.

So, expect directional thinking from the government in the wake of revelations that an overwhelming majority of respondents to the public consultation last year on copyright and AI training rejected the Prime Minister’s preferred option of opting creators into AI training by default. Just three percent of respondents supported Sir Keir Starmer’s proposition, while the option to strengthen copyright laws and require licensing in all cases was supported by 88% of the 11,512 people who replied to the consultation. Ouch.

But this is not a ...