Copyright and Artificial Intelligence
(1 day, 14 hours ago)
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The Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology (Liz Kendall)
Today I am laying before Parliament an Act paper updating Parliament on the Government’s progress on copyright and artificial intelligence, fulfilling the commitment under the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025.
Our approach to copyright and AI must support prosperity for all UK citizens, and drive innovation and growth for sectors across the economy, including the creative industries. This means keeping the UK at the cutting edge of science and technology, so that UK citizens can benefit from major breakthroughs, transformative innovation and greater prosperity. It also means continuing to support our creative industries, which make a huge economic contribution, shape our national identity and give us a unique position on the world stage.
It is important that we take the time to get this right. This is an issue that many countries around the world are grappling with, and on which there is no clear consensus. My Department, alongside the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, has focused on seeking a broad range of input—through the consultation, Parliamentary working groups, and our engagement with stakeholders—to ensure that we hear as many expert views and experiences as possible as we seek to find a solution.
Our consultation received over 11,500 responses from individual creators, rights holders, AI developers, academics and many others. We have analysed each of these responses individually. We have brought together representatives from media, creative industries, AI developers and academia in a series of roundtables to facilitate open discussion. The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport and I chaired the most recent roundtable in September. We have also convened cross-party parliamentary working groups, meeting with MPs in October and peers in November.
We have established four expert technical working groups, covering control and technical standards, information and transparency, licensing, and wider support for creatives. These groups are bringing together expertise from across the creative industries, the AI sector and academia to explore practical solutions io complex questions.
Work is also in progress to prepare the economic impact assessment and report required under the Act, which we will publish by 18 March 2026. The wide range of input and analysis described above will shape this report, which will cover the full range of issues raised in consultation, from transparency requirements, licensing arrangements and how copyright affects access to training data, to technical measures and standards, and enforcement mechanisms. It will also address issues relating to AI outputs, including computer-generated works, output labelling and digital replicas and enforcement mechanisms.
We want to thank the range of stakeholders who have been involved in this work so far, and encourage those with views to continue engaging with us as we seek to find a way forward that delivers our ambitions for both the creative industries and AI.
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