DAMIAN COLLINS: No. 10 must block AI giants who try to steal our artists’ work

The creative industries are one of Britain’s greatest assets: drivers of innovation and growth, as well as a source of cultural power and wellbeing.

But they only thrive thanks to copyright, a law that prohibits music from being copied, novels from being plagiarized, and films from being pirated.

However, early last month, Google published a policy document titled: Unlocking The UK’s AI Potential.

What’s not to like?, you might ask. Artificial intelligence has the potential to revolutionize our economy and we don’t want to be left behind as the rest of the world embraces its benefits.

But hidden in Google’s report is a call for a ‘text and data mining’ (TDM) exception to copyright.

Early last month, Google published a policy document titled: Unlocking The UK’s AI Potential

Actress Julianne Moore was among those who signed a statement labeling the measure “an unjust threat” to their livelihoods

This TDM exception would allow Google to wipe the entire history of human creativity from the Internet without permission and without payment.

Naturally, the artists of the world are in turmoil. This week, 13,500 creatives, including Abba’s Bjorn Ulvaeus, actress Julianne Moore and writer Sir Kazuo Ishiguro, signed a statement labeling the measure “an unjust threat” to their livelihoods.

What Google calls “innovation” is actually copyright infringement on an unprecedented scale. That’s why the tech giant is demanding a new law to exempt it from copyright.

In short, the fourth largest company in the world, with a valuation of over $2 trillion, wants a license to be a global pirate. She would like to see the government seize work that belongs to creators and rights holders so that they and other tech companies can commercialize new products and services.

Last week, Feryal Clark – the new Minister of AI and Digital Government – ​​said a new law may be needed to end the AI ​​copyright dispute. Is she really thinking about putting in a TDM exception? If so, as we have seen, she can expect fierce opposition.

In 2022, the Intellectual Property Office proposed such a move, but was quickly forced to rethink after a backlash from the creative community.

Abba’s Bjorn Ulvaeus also signed the declaration along with 13,500 other creatives

In the aftermath of that sad episode, the culture, media and sport selection committee took an in-depth look at the relationship between AI and copyright. It concluded that rather than siding with Silicon Valley, the government should strengthen the hand of creators and rights holders to ensure that human creativity can flourish in the AI ​​era. This meant that any form of TDM exception had to be rejected.

The most effective route through this is simple: require tech companies to be transparent about the ‘data’ they use to train their AI systems, so that the creative industries and tech companies can come to the table and discuss commercial terms.

The truth is that copyright – far from being a ‘barrier to innovation’ – is an essential tool for promoting innovation.

• Damian Collins chaired the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee from 2016 to 2019.