UK Government Proposes Copyright & AI Reform

In December 2024, a British governmental body put forward a consultation in which it investigated schemes to alter the UK’s copyright structure due to the rapid development of the AI field.

A new implemented structure has various goals, among which are maintenance of control the right holders have over their content, support the growth of AI models in Great Britain and promotion of better credibility among the creative and AI areas by putting forward clearance demands on AI elaborators to disclose their training data.

This guide will make you go over the main aspects of the topic and help you to understand the most important information.

New TDM exception

The authorities are considering the possibility of implementation of a new TDM exception which would apply for any goals, encompassing commercial ones.

A proposed exception allows AI developers to use copyrighted material if they have legally obtained it, including online or via subscriptions, unless the copyright holder explicitly restricts use via standardized machine-readable formats. The approach aims to improve upon existing models by creating clearer, more effective methods for copyright holders to manage their rights digitally.

New transparency demands in Great Britain

The government believes that any new exceptions to copyright for AI training must include strong transparency demands. This is because it’s currently difficult for copyright holders to know if their work is being used to train AI. Increased transparency will help ensure copyright abidance and enforcement, and will also help developers and users understand their legal responsibilities.

This could involve legally mandating disclosure of training data, web scraping practices, and record-keeping. The authorities acknowledge the challenges of such clearance for large datasets and will explore supporting the development of tools to make it easier. Exceptions may be made to protect trade secrets and confidential commercial information.

The government plans to work with other countries to create compatible standards.

Copyright status of a content created by AI

A government is in the process of considering the legal protection extended to works created exclusively through computers. This form of special protection exists in very few countries, but there is an ongoing debate about its reapplication. The main question is if the ‘original nature’ requirement of works created by a human author can be applied to these machine-generated works.

The other word that came from the government is that this could be achieved by changing the present rules in the opposite direction that would define a new originality in the case of works generated by computers, or by ending the special protections that were previously in place. The government preferred the latter. Works with creative human input into them, even if it was just assisted by AI, would still be protected.

Under the current rules, AI-generated music and video with human assistance is protected. It does not alter the fact that the change is important for both texts and images, so that these are necessary to be created by AI and similar without human help.

AI-Generated Content Labeling

AI-generated Results: One of the governments is considering ways to force all such outputs to be labeled. A measure that would replicate others taken in different jurisdictions to ensure transparency for other purposes. Practical objections of significant weight are pointed to by the authorities. Determining whether AI-altered content should be labeled – not merely the case of subtly modified images – and creating tamper-evident labels are high hurdles. The government is currently much more interested in supporting research in technical solutions to make labeling transparent.

Feasible Further Alterations to Law

Besides these legal clarifications, the authorities also attempted to put in legislative form the express application of existing provisions under the Copyright Act with respect to AI. This mainly relates to clarifying the parameters of temporary use for which a copyrighted work is put throughout the training of an AI model and conforming to the international standards of the country’s copyright regime with a view to ensuring a level playing field between domestic and foreign providers of AI models.

Enactment through Legislation

The governmental body has framed its recommendations after a public consultation, and the next step is new legislation to bring the framework into force. This is primarily because there are still quite a few pending litigation cases and quick settling of ambiguities might not occur, and in this regard, swift and clear legal answers are desired. Although legislative action is far from being the only option, new legislation is most probably the way that will be taken.

Conclusion

Eventually, the government’s proposed reforms aim to modernize legal structures surrounding the use of protected works in technological development. The plan addresses ambiguities in existing regulations, particularly concerning the temporary use of materials in technological training processes. It also seeks to create a consistent and fair environment for all participants, regardless of geographical location. To achieve these goals, new legislation is anticipated, reflecting the need for clear and timely legal resolution.