UK Music has responded to a new report on AI and copyright published today (March 6) by the House Of Lords Communications and Digital Committee.
The Committee said it would be a very “poor bet” for the government to allow changes to copyright that could undermine the UK’s creative industries, calling the sector an “economic powerhouse”.
The report highlights that the creative industries – underpinned by the UK’s copyright regime – contributed £124 billion to the economy in 2023 and employed 2.4 million people. The AI sector contributed just £12bn in 2024 and employed 86,000 people.
The report is sceptical about tech industry claims that introducing a new commercial text and data mining (TDM) exception for AI training would significantly expand the developing sector.
Welcoming the report, UK Music chief executive Tom Kiehl said: “The UK is at a crossroads and the government has a choice to make – either become a global leader in ethical and transparent AI innovation, or sell our incredible cultural and creative sectors down the river to unscrupulous big tech firms.”
He added: "When giving evidence before this Committee as part of this inquiry, I warned that weakening gold standard copyright laws would compromise the £8 billion music contributes to the UK economy, along with the 220,000 jobs it creates. It's great to see the Committee stand by these existing laws and strongly urge government to reject recommendations for an impractical and unethical 'opt-out' model and text and data mining exception.
"The Committee's findings clearly recognise the existential threat generative AI poses to our world-leading industry and the need for strong support from the government to ensure the music industry continues to thrive for generations to come."
The Committee's findings clearly recognise the existential threat generative AI poses to our world-leading industry
Tom Kiehl
The Committee has called on the government to develop a licensing-first regime, which would be “underpinned by robust transparency, that safeguards creators’ livelihoods while supporting sustainable AI growth”.
The report also stated that the government should rule out a new commercial text and data (TDM) exception with an opt-out model for AI training.
“The government was right to abandon its previous support for a new commercial TDM exception and should now confirm that this will not be introduced,” said the Committee. The report found that the EU’s ‘opt-out’ approach does not provide a workable model for the UK to follow. It suggested Australia’s decision to rule out a TDM exception shows a possible alternative way forward.
Committee chair Baroness Keeley said: “Our creative industries face a clear and present danger from uncredited and unremunerated use of copyrighted material to train AI models. Photographers, musicians, authors and publishers are seeing their work fed into AI models which then produce imitations that take employment and earning opportunities from the original creators.
The future for AI in the UK should be based on transparent and responsible use of training data
Baroness Keeley
“AI may contribute to our future economic growth, but the UK creative industries create jobs and economic value now. In 2023 the creative industries delivered £124bn of economic value to the UK and this is set to grow to £141bn by 2030. Watering down the protections in our existing copyright regime to lure the biggest US tech companies is a race to the bottom that does not serve UK interests. We should not sacrifice our creative industries for AI jam tomorrow.”
She added: “The government should now make clear it will not pursue a new text and data mining exception with an opt-out mechanism for training commercial AI models. Instead, it should focus on strengthening UK protections for creators, including against unauthorised digital replicas and ‘in the style of’ uses of creators’ work and identity. The government’s task should be to create the conditions that will allow a licensing-first approach to AI training to flourish, backed by effective transparency requirements and technical standards for data provenance and labelling, so that rightsholders and developers can participate confidently in this emerging market.
“The future for AI in the UK should be based on transparent and responsible use of training data. We are calling on the government to embrace the opportunities this presents, and to demonstrate its commitment to the UK’s gold-standard copyright regime and our outstanding creative industries in its forthcoming economic assessment and update on AI and copyright.”
Sophie Jones, chief strategy Officer at the BPI, said: “We welcome the Committee’s recognition that a thriving UK licensing market, based on respect of copyright, offers the best solution for both AI companies and the creative industries. The Committee rightly calls on the Government to rule out a new exception to copyright – and it is imperative that the Government does not put forward other options to create new exceptions that would have the same devastating impact on music and other creative sectors.
"The government should take heed of this report as it considers its policy position, alongside the Committee’s welcome recommendations for transparency from AI companies and the need for the protection of personality rights and digital replicas.“
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