FIPP reacts to AI Opportunities Action Plan
Following Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s announcement that the UK government is taking forward the recommendations of the AI Opportunities Action Plan, FIPP this week joined other media organisations in warning against the country mirroring an EU approach to AI, while rejecting suggestions of “uncertainty” in UK Law.
The AI Opportunities Action Plan recommends the “reform (of) the UK text and data mining regime so that it is at least as competitive as the EU” and suggests “the current uncertainty around intellectual property (IP) is hindering innovation and undermining our broader ambitions for AI.”
“This has gone on too long and needs to be urgently resolved,” the Plan adds. “The EU has moved forward with an approach that is designed to support AI innovation while also enabling rights holders to have control over the use of content they produce. The UK is falling behind.”
Reacting to the Plan’s publication, the Creative Rights In AI Coalition, which counts FIPP, the Financial Times, Guardian News & Media, Independent Publishers Alliance, Telegraph Media Group, The Associated Press and Independent Publishers Guild amongst its members, said:
“Following the Prime Minister’s broad commitment to take forward the Plan’s recommendations, we call on the government to provide assurances that all options in the Copyright and AI Consultation – including enforcing the existing copyright regime with transparency provisions – remain on the table.
“It is deeply concerning to see the EU approach looked to as a regime that the UK should mirror. The EU is still working out how to implement its EU AI Act and there are persistent questions over the workability of their opt-out regime. This serves as a real-time warning for the government about imitating regimes that have shown no signs of being effective. The UK should learn from the EU regime’s shortcomings, not blindly imitate it.
“Furthermore, there is no ‘uncertainty’ in the UK text and data mining regime: it is clear that UK copyright law does not allow text and data mining for commercial purposes without a licence. The only uncertainty is around who has been using the UK’s creative crown jewels as training material without permission and how they got hold of it, making transparency provisions vital.”
