The Tony Blair Institute (TBI) has released a report calling for the UK to lead in navigating the complex intersection of arts and AI.
According to the report, titled âRebooting Copyright: How the UK Can Be a Global Leader in the Arts and AI,â the global race for cultural and technological leadership is still up for grabs, and the UK has a golden opportunity to take the lead.
The report emphasises that countries that âembrace change and harness the power of artificial intelligence in creative ways will set the technical, aesthetic, and regulatory standards for others to follow.â
Highlighting that we are in the midst of another revolution in media and communication, the report notes that AI is disrupting how textual, visual, and auditive content is created, distributed, and experienced, much like the printing press, gramophone, and camera did before it.
âAI will usher in a new era of interactive and bespoke works, as well as a counter-revolution that celebrates everything that AI can never be,â the report states.
However, far from signalling the end of human creativity, the TBI suggests AI will open up ânew ways of being original.â
The AI revolutionâs impact isnât limited to the creative industries; itâs being felt across all areas of society. Scientists are using AI to accelerate discoveries, healthcare providers are employing it to analyse X-ray images, and emergency services utilise it to locate houses damaged by earthquakes.
The report stresses that these cross-industry advancements are just the beginning, with future AI systems set to become increasingly capable, fuelled by advancements in computing power, data, model architectures, and access to talent.
The UK government has expressed its ambition to be a global leader in AI through its AI Opportunities Action Plan, announced by Prime Minister Keir Starmer on 13 January 2025. For its part, the TBI welcomes the UK governmentâs ambition, stating that âif properly designed and deployed, AI can make human lives healthier, safer, and more prosperous.â
However, the rapid spread of AI across sectors raises urgent policy questions, particularly concerning the data used for AI training. The application of UK copyright law to the training of AI models is currently contested, with the debate often framed as a âzero-sum gameâ between AI developers and rights holders. The TBI argues that this framing âmisrepresents the nature of the challenge and the opportunity before us.â
The report emphasises that âbold policy solutions are needed to provide all parties with legal clarity and unlock investments that spur innovation, job creation, and economic growth.â
According to the TBI, AI presents opportunities for creatorsânoting its use in various fields from podcasts to filmmaking. The report draws parallels with past technological innovations â such as the printing press and the internet â which were initially met with resistance, but ultimately led to societal adaptation and human ingenuity prevailing.
The TBI proposes that the solution lies not in clinging to outdated copyright laws but in allowing them to âco-evolve with technological changeâ to remain effective in the age of AI.
The UK government has proposed a text and data mining exception with an opt-out option for rights holders. While the TBI views this as a good starting point for balancing stakeholder interests, it acknowledges the âsignificant implementation and enforcement challengesâ that come with it, spanning legal, technical, and geopolitical dimensions.
In the report, the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change âassesses the merits of the UK governmentâs proposal and outlines a holistic policy framework to make it work in practice.â
The report includes recommendations and examines novel forms of art that will emerge from AI. It also delves into the disagreement between rights holders and developers on copyright, the wider implications of copyright policy, and the serious hurdles the UKâs text and data mining proposal faces.
Furthermore, the Tony Blair Institute explores the challenges of governing an opt-out policy, implementation problems with opt-outs, making opt-outs useful and accessible, and tackling the diffusion problem. AI summaries and the problems they present regarding identity are also addressed, along with defensive tools as a partial solution and solving licensing problems.
The report also seeks to clarify the standards on human creativity, address digital watermarking, and discuss the uncertainty around the impact of generative AI on the industry. It proposes establishing a Centre for AI and the Creative Industries and discusses the risk of judicial review, the benefits of a remuneration scheme, and the advantages of a targeted levy on ISPs to raise funding for the Centre.
However, the report has faced strong criticism. Ed Newton-Rex, CEO of Fairly Trained, raised several concerns on Bluesky. These concerns include:
- The report repeats the âmisleading claimâ that existing UK copyright law is uncertain, which Newton-Rex asserts is not the case.
- The suggestion that an opt-out scheme would give rights holders more control over how their works are used is misleading. Newton-Rex argues that licensing is currently required by law, so moving to an opt-out system would actually decrease control, as some rights holders will inevitably miss the opt-out.
- The report likens machine learning (ML) training to human learning, a comparison that Newton-Rex finds shocking, given the vastly different scalability of the two.
- The reportâs claim that AI developers wonât make long-term profits from training on peopleâs work is questioned, with Newton-Rex pointing to the significant funding raised by companies like OpenAI.
- Newton-Rex suggests the report uses strawman arguments, such as stating that generative AI may not replace all human paid activities.
- A key criticism is that the report omits data showing how generative AI replaces demand for human creative labour.
- Newton-Rex also criticises the reportâs proposed solutions, specifically the suggestion to set up an academic centre, which he notes âno one has asked for.â
- Furthermore, he highlights the proposal to tax every household in the UK to fund this academic centre, arguing that this would place the financial burden on consumers rather than the AI companies themselves, and the revenue wouldnât even go to creators.
Adding to these criticisms, British novelist and author Jonathan Coe noted that âthe five co-authors of this report on copyright, AI, and the arts are all from the science and technology sectors. Not one artist or creator among them.â
While the report from Tony Blair Institute for Global Change supports the governmentâs ambition to be an AI leader, it also raises critical policy questionsâparticularly around copyright law and AI training data.
(Photo by Jez Timms)
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