NMA Welcomes Report On AI & Copyright From University of Cambridge’s Minderoo Centre

Responding to a report from The Minderoo Centre for Technology and Democracy at the University of Cambridge that cautions against the government’s proposals to degrade copyright law in favour of AI firms, News Media Association chief executive Owen Meredith has said:

“The findings of this expert academic report echo what creators have been saying for months: that there is no evidence that a sweeping new text and data mining exception will stimulate growth or lead to AI innovation and investment in the UK.

“We agree economic analysis of the impact of an ‘opt-out’ is urgently needed, something that the government has so far failed to do despite their plans to put the UK’s £126 billion creative industries at risk.

“We also welcome the report’s clear statement that scraping works from the internet without permission is prohibited under UK law and agree that the government should adopt transparency requirements to ensure that the provenance of data in AI models is disclosed to the rights holder.

“Taken together, the report’s recommendations closely mirror the principles of Baroness Beeban Kidron’s copyright and AI amendments which have been voted into the Data (Use and Access) Bill. We hope the government and MPs scrutinising the provisions will consider the findings of this report.”

Notes

The Minderoo Centre for Technology and Democracy is an independent team of academic researchers at the University of Cambridge working to ensure that digital technologies work for people, societies, and the planet.

These recommendations emphasize the need for economic analysis of the impact of an ‘opt-out’ system, the prohibition of scraping works from the internet without permission under UK copyright law, and the adoption of transparency requirements to ensure the provenance of data in AI models is disclosed:

Recommendation 2: “Government should encourage the uptake of licensing agreements to ensure that copyright holders are compensated for use of their work by AI systems, but it should also ensure that these licensing agreements fully acknowledge the rights of copyright holders and fairly compensate them for the use of their works.”

Recommendation 4: “Government should adopt transparency requirements on the training of AI systems which include the mandatory disclosure of data provenance.”

Recommendation 6: “We urge caution against embarking on the path of a TDM exemption, regardless of an ‘opt-out’ mechanism, without a robust economic analysis of the likely impact that it will have on the creative industries.”