From Southbank on the Thames. Image – Getty: Wirestock
By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson
‘Lift the Lid on AI Usage’
Update, February 26: Rachel Hall at The Guardian today writes that “Two cross-party committees of Members of Parliament have urged the government to prioritize ensuring that creators are fairly remunerated for their creative work over making it easy to train artificial intelligence models. The MPs argued there needed to be more transparency around the vast amounts of data used to train generative AI models, and urged the government not to press ahead with plans to require creators to opt out of having their data used.”
That avoidance of the “opt-out” element is part of the positioning of book publishing and other creative industries on the government’s proposals. Further developments are anticipated.
► See below for news of a March 11 Main Stage presentation at London Book Fair on this issue, and on United States issues in copyright and AI.
Here is our article from last night as the consultation period closed:
In London as darkness settles tonight (February 25), the UK government’s copyright-and-AI consultation period—a “public comment period” in the parlance of other governments—concludes at 11:59 p.m.
Spirits are running high among members of the Publishers Association and its associates, as a furious roll-out of press coverage highlights the creative industries and journalists who have poured their most eloquent savvy into making the case for the British copyright regime.
“Big Tech needs to pay for the creative and research content they hoover up to train AI, just as they pay for their electricity and other normal costs of running a legally compliant business.”Dan Conway, Publishers Association
According to one source in touch with Publishing Perspectives today from central London, “well over 100” news media have quoted Dan Conway, CEO of the Publishers Association, as the book industry’s profile rises amid the rising dynamic of controversy and urgency.
At The Times today, Mark Sellman, technology correspondent, and Chris Smyth, Whitehall editor, quote Conway saying, “The message to government is clear: the great copyright heist cannot go unchallenged.
“Big Tech needs to pay for the creative and research content they hoover up to train AI, just as they pay for their electricity and other normal costs of running a legally compliant business.”
Dan Conway
“We urgently need transparency regulations to lift the lid on AI usage,” he says, “to ensure that the huge opportunities that AI can bring are realized in a way that incentivizes growth across the whole economy and is safe and ethical for those who use it.
“The UK is a content superpower and its creative industries, educational institutions, and academic research are the envy of the world. Establishing fair trading practices and encouraging partnership with, rather than subservience to, Big Tech is the way we lift all the boats and deliver for the UK.”
That kind of muscular framing of the issue seems to be working, at least to get the attention of the commentariat.
‘The Letter’: ‘The Moral Right of Creators’
A letter has gone to The Times, warning of a rout of the creative industries’ power and prosperity if changes are made to copyright law.
“The creative industries contribute £126 billion to the UK economy annually (US$159.6 billion) and employ 2.4 million people, 70 percent of whom live outside London.”'Letter: Protecting UK's Creative Copyright Against AI'
Signatories include Andrew Lloyd Webber; Kate Bush; Sir Paul McCartney; Sir Stephen Fry; Ed Sheeran; Sir Tom Stoppard; Sting; and others, all hoping to stop the government from changing three centuries of copyright law “to make it easier for AI companies to operate in the UK,” as Smyth and Sellman put it.
Titled Protecting UK’s Creative Copyright Against AI, the letter reminds stakeholders, “The UK’s robust copyright system is one of the main reasons why rights holders work in Britain, bringing much-needed inward investment.
“The creative industries contribute £126 billion to the UK economy annually (US$159.6 billion) and employ 2.4 million people, 70 percent of whom live outside London. They drive tourism, contributing to our standing across the globe, and they bring joy and community spirit to our people, while forging a culture in which we are all reflected.”
More luminaries’ names bristle on the page—Sir Elton John, Sri Kazuo Ishiguro, Simon Le Bon, Andrew Wylie, Dame Pippa Harris, Pete Townshend, more.
The change in the copyright protocols, these celebrity voices tell the government and its constituents, “would smash a hole in the moral right of creators to present their work as they wish and would undermine our gold-standard copyright system, which supports individual artists and creative businesses, large and small.”
Even today, a demonstration of the power of copyright is underway, as the International Booker Prize cheers a roster of work from 15 countries, 10 languages, five continents, all gathered on one longlist because translation and publication rights were sold and bought, providing the UK and other English-language markets with a new year’s powerhouse of world literature, no work stolen, all ownership honored. That’s the work of copyright, properly exploited and respected.
And Dan Conway’s statement, so broadly carried in the press, adds, “Publishing is a growth industry supporting tens of thousands of highly skilled jobs nationwide.
“We already contribute £11 billion to the UK economy (US$13.9 billion) and are central to creative industries’ growth and UK research and development and are early adopters of AI technology to equip the readers and learners of the future.
“The extraordinary strength of support shown in recent weeks for copyright and our world-class creative industries is something the government ignores at its peril. When Booker, Grammy, Oscar, and Nobel prize winners are united in calling on the government for a fair hearing, we have to hope they listen.”
The Copyright and Artificial Intelligence open consultation documents are at the Gov.UK site here.
A Programming Note
On London Book Fair‘s opening day, March 11 at a 3 p.m. GMT, a discussion on the Olympia London Main Stage will feature the Publishers Association ‘s Dan Conway and the Association of American Publishers‘ president and CEO, Maria A. Pallante on AI and Copyright: Policy Developments in the UK and US.
Clearly, the timing of the close of the government’s open consultation will make this a timely conversation, to be moderated by Publishing Perspectives.
A description of this presentation reads, “AI is here to stay and so are the policy debates that will shape its development and deployment for years to come. “In particular, many publishers around the world are watching developments in the UK and US, where regulators, legislators, and courts are weighing legal disputes and policy proposals that could have global ramifications for copyright laws.
“Join us for a British, American, and decidedly human discussion on the most important issue of the day.”
Also today in London: The International Booker Prize Names Its 2025 Longlist
More from Publishing Perspectives on artificial intelligence is here; more on copyright and international book publishing is here; and more on the United Kingdom’s book business is here.