Artificial intelligence (AI) systems are using copyright-protected works “with impunity”, say publishing trade bodies, which are urging the government to act.
The call comes on the eve of a landmark AI summit set up by Rishi Sunak that will be attended by world leaders such as US vice-president Kamala Harris and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, as well as tech executives such as Elon Musk.
The Society of Authors, Publishers Association, Association of Authors’ Agents and the Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society asked Sunak for “urgent confirmation” that AI systems cannot continue to use copyright-protected works.
They also want “acknowledgement of and recompense for” copyright infringement that has already happened, “transparency and attribution” and an “end to the opaque development of AI”.
AI has the potential to make a major impact on all aspects of publishing, from content creation and marketing to production, data analytics and more.
“As a society we should support human authorship unequivocally,” they said in a joint statement.
“It is of the utmost importance that the government puts in place tangible solutions as soon as possible to protect the human creativity and knowledge that underpins safe and reliable AI. Human creativity is the bedrock of the publishing and wider creative industries. That creativity will be worth around £116bn this year in the UK alone.”
In the summer, a report from the OECD said that major economies are on the “cusp of an AI revolution” that could trigger job losses in skilled professions such as law, medicine and finance. Roles in the media and publishing are also under threat, with Google recently pitching a product to various high-profile news organisations that use AI to produce news stories.
“The publishing industry was an early adopter of AI and we fully recognise the potential benefits and opportunities it can bring to our industry with AI tools that help us enhance human creativity and academic endeavour by reaching our audiences, marketing our books and journals more effectively, and improving processes and systems. However, it must be used ethically and legally, and its use must be regulated,” the statement continued.
“We need urgent confirmation from government to ensure that AI systems cannot continue to use copyright-protected works with impunity. Creative work – and industries like publishing that are built on it – can only thrive under the right conditions: a strong copyright regime, compensation, credit for authors and other creators, and rights-holders’ control.
“But those conditions are being undermined – and creative works devalued – by today’s unfettered, opaque development of AI systems, which have been designed using copyright-protected works used without permission or payment.”
In August, a federal judge in the US ruled that human beings are an “essential part of a valid copyright claim” and that material generated by AI cannot be copyrighted.
