A new coalition of rightsholders has called on the UK government to protect copyright while inspiring growth in the creative and technology sectors ahead of an imminent consultation.
Publishers, artists and music businesses — including PRS for Music — are among the members of the Creative Rights in AI Coalition (CRAIC), which has today (16 December) published three key principles for copyright and generative AI policy (GAI).
The coalition’s three principles focus on a dynamic licensing market with robust protections for copyright, control and transparency for content creators, as well as driving growth and innovation in the creative and tech sectors. CRAIC is now calling on the government to adopt these principles as a framework for developing AI policy.
‘We support the government’s mission for long-term, secure growth in the creative and tech sectors,’ the coalition said in a statement. ‘We are eager to see the development of a vibrant licensing market and support the sectors which rely on us for their future prosperity, but we can only do so with a robust copyright framework which preserves our exclusive rights to control our works and thereby act as a safeguard against misuse.
‘Ours is a positive vision, a vision of collaboration between the creative industries and generative AI developers, where we can all flourish in the online marketplace. We call on the government and the tech sector to join us in building a future that values, protects and promotes human creativity.’
Today’s launch is accompanied by the publication of new nationally representative public polling from Reset Tech and YouGov, which found that the public overwhelmingly back transparency in the training of AI models and the payment of royalties to content creators by tech firms.
72% of respondents said AI companies should be required to pay royalties to the creators of text, audio or video they use to train AI models, while 80% said AI companies should be required to make public all the information that their models have been trained upon.
‘The UK’s world-leading creative and tech sectors put it in a unique position to set a global standard for how both sectors can innovate together and continue to provide high quality services,’ the coalition added. ‘Protecting copyright and building a dynamic licensing market for the use of creative content in building GAI isn’t just a question of fairness: it’s the only way that both sectors will flourish and grow.
‘The UK creative industries generate well over £100bn annually. We have, quite literally, earned the right to have our voice heard. The key to that success, and future growth, is copyright law.’
You can find out more about the Creative Rights in AI Coalition here, and see below for the full list of organisations who are part of the coalition:
- Independent Society of Musicians
- DMG Media
- Association of Photographers
- Association of Online Publishers
- Professional Publishers Association
- NLA Media Access Limited
- Publishers' Licensing Services
- Association of Illustrators
- PRS for Music
- News Media Association
- Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers
- International Association of Scientific, Technical & Medical Publishers
- Publishers Association
- Copyright Licensing Agency
- The Associated Press
- The Society of Artists Agents
- European Publishers Council
- Society of Editors
- Independent Publishers Alliance
- British Copyright Council
- Society of Authors
- News Media Europe
- Pan Macmillan
- Association of Authors' Agents
- Financial Times
- Creators’ Rights Alliance
- Guardian News & Media
- Authors' Licencing and Collecting Society
- Mumsnet
- Artists’ Collecting Society
- Music Publishers Association
- Picture Industry Collecting Society for Effective Licensing
- Getty Images
- British Phonographic Industry
- Association of Independent Music
- CILIP - the library and information association
- PPL (Phonographic Performance Ltd)
- UK Music
- Independent Publishers Guild
- Motion Picture Association
- Telegraph Media Group
