The government has opened a formal consultation on how copyright law should apply to artificial intelligence systems, in an attempt to settle a dispute that has pitted technology firms against publishers, record labels and news organisations.
The consultation asks how AI developers should use copyright-protected material when training large language models, and whether new rights or licensing arrangements are needed. It follows months of deadlock between the two sides, with creative industry bodies threatening legal action and tech companies warning that overly restrictive rules would put the UK at a disadvantage.
Under current law, the position is unclear. AI firms argue that scraping publicly available content for training purposes falls within existing exceptions, while rights holders insist that using their work without permission or payment amounts to infringement. Several high-profile disputes have already reached the courts in other jurisdictions, with mixed results.
Options set out in the consultation include a compulsory licensing scheme, a transparency regime requiring developers to disclose what data they use, and an opt-out system that would let rights holders block their content from training sets. A government-commissioned report estimated the creative industries contribute around £125 billion a year to the UK economy, and ministers have said any new framework must protect that value while keeping the country open to AI investment.
“The risk is a decade of litigation that benefits lawyers on both sides and nobody else,” said a digital policy analyst who has advised on the consultation. “What the market needs is a clear, workable set of rules, and ideally ones that are broadly aligned with what other major economies are doing.”
The UK’s approach has been closely watched since it declined to implement earlier proposals, and other governments have moved at different speeds. The European Union has introduced transparency obligations under its AI Act, while some publishers in the United States have struck private licensing deals with developers. UK officials say they are studying both models.
Technology companies have warned that a poorly designed regime could push model training abroad, while creative bodies argue that the current situation amounts to a free ride on their work. Both sides have welcomed the consultation process itself as a chance to move beyond stalemate.
The consultation runs for 12 weeks, with responses expected to inform legislation in the next parliamentary session. Ministers have indicated they want a framework in place before the end of next year, and have described the outcome as a test of whether the UK can balance innovation with the protection of its creative industries.