The Prime Minister has opened the door to a rethink of controversial new AI rules which would make it easier for tech giants to use artists’ work without compensating them.
Sir Keir Starmer insisted that a final decision on whether to go ahead with a loosening of the current copyright regulations had not yet been taken after a consultation on the issue closed earlier this week.
Newspapers, leading musicians and other cultural figures have been mounting a campaign for the Government to scrap its plans to relax the rules on copyright protections. The i Paper is supporting the Make It Fair campaign seeking the upholding of existing rules, which give creatives control over who uses their work and derives income from it.
Speaking during his trip to Washington this week, Starmer signalled that he was open to compromise, saying: “All that’s happened is there’s been a consultation.”
He added: “We will review the responses to the consultation. The creative sector is obviously really important to our economy. AI is really important to our economy and we’ll review it in that light. But I’ll be clear, I want creatives to thrive. I think they’re really important for our country – not just the contribution to the economy but our global reputation.”
The Government has found itself in an increasingly uncomfortable position over its copyright proposals after a groundswell of opposition among figures from Sir Paul McCartney and Kate Bush to technicians and engineers. Labour backbenchers are known to have approached party whips to express concern at the level of grassroots anger amid calls for the issue to be revisited.
Ministers insist their blueprint will resolve an impasse which they say is holding back both tech companies wishing to develop AI models in Britain and the creative sector. Under the plans, software developers will have free access to British-made content, from news media to music and film, to “train” their AI programmes unless the owners of the copyright to that material specifically “opt-out” of the system.
Critics say such an approach will undermine a world-leading segment of the British economy, worth some £126bn a year, and risk livelihoods by removing control over the use of creative work from its creators.
Baroness Beeban Kidron, the cross-bench peer and film director who has led opposition in Parliament, this week told The i Paper that while ministers were happy to pose with A-list stars they had failed to understand that copyright laws underpin the incomes thousands of working class carpenters, crew members and technicians employed in sectors from film to music.
But while the Prime Minister insists he wants creatives to “thrive”, his business secretary Peter Kyle, who has been accused of being too close to tech companies, insisted this week that he would not succumb to external pressure.
Mr Kyle told Sky News: “I’m really open minded about how we move forward, but there’s one principle I have: I will not have one side forcing me to make a choice between one or the other.”
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