Public Affairs

Parliamentary Committees issue statements on AI and copyright

Both the Science, Innovation and Technology Committee and the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Committee issued statements on AI and copyright.

The Science Committee published a report that states “some AI models and tools make use of other people’s content and policy must establish the rights of the originators of this content, and these rights must be enforced”.

Greg Clark, The Science, Innovation and Technology Committee Chair said: “[the Committee] will study the Government’s response to the interim report, and the AI white paper consultation, with interest, and will publish a final set of policy recommendations in due course”.

In addition, the DCMS Committee published a report which said that “the Government should consider how creatives can ensure transparency and, if necessary, resource and redress if they suspect that AI developers are wrongfully using their works in AI development”.

Speaking in relation to how the Government should support creative industries, the DCMS Committee Chair Caroline Dinenage said that: “[Ministers must] develop a copyright and regulatory regime that protects them as AI continues to disrupt traditional cultural production”.

The PPA is pleased to see these statements from MPs clearly expressing support for greater copyright protections for specialist publishers in the context of AI. The Government is required to formally respond to these reports in October. We will monitor these responses and update on any significant developments.

Separately, the PPA has submitted evidence to the Digital and Communications Committee in the House of Lords as part of an ongoing inquiry into large language models (LLMs). We have used this as an opportunity to reiterate our key messages about the need for the enforcement of transparency provisions for AI developers.

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PPA requests meeting with Prime Minister

The PPA has written to the Prime Minister requesting an urgent meeting to discuss the complex relationship between large language models (LLMs) and copyright – issues that are significantly impacting the magazine and publishing sector.

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