The proposed bill would also require public authorities to adopt transparency standards to ensure the “proper use” of AI.

Private Members’ bills are public bills introduced in the House of Lords or the House of Commons by MPs and Lords who are not government ministers. A minority of Private Members’ bills become law but, by creating publicity around an issue, they may affect legislation indirectly.

Previously, Lord Clement-Jones has raised awareness of the issues faced by publishers in relation to AI. In a debate on the (now-dropped) Artificial Intelligence (Regulation) Bill he said: “The creative industries are up in arms about the lack of support from the government in asserting their intellectual property rights in the face of the ingestion of their material by generative AI developers.”

On another occasion, he added: “We all need to establish very clearly that generative AI systems need licences to ingest copyright material for training purposes.”

Since Labour has been in power, they are yet to announce developments on AI regulation, despite the anticipation of an AI Bill mentioned in the King’s Speech in July.

The PPA continues to communicate with relevant stakeholders to ensure the challenges faced by the specialist publishing sector — where AI developers are using copyrighted content to train models — are effectively addressed.

We continue to monitor developments from the relevant government departments to identify any upcoming consultations on regulating artificial intelligence. We will engage with members to ensure a coordinated and represented response is delivered.

You can read the proposed bill here.

To discuss this issue further, contact the Head of Public Affairs, Eilidh Wilson, eilidh.wilson@ppa.co.uk