OpenAI and Google have voiced criticism over the UK government’s “preferred version” of the Copyright Act, which aims to regulate how AI models can be trained using publicly available content on the internet.
The public consultation on the proposal, which concluded in February, drew around 11,000 responses from companies and individual users. Both OpenAI and Google shared their views in response to questions from the UK Parliament’s Science, Innovation and Technology Committee, after initially choosing not to comment directly to Members of Parliament.
Under the proposed changes, AI companies would be permitted to train their models on publicly accessible content for commercial use, unless copyright holders take explicit action to opt out. The changes also propose stricter transparency requirements for AI companies about their training practices and data sources, notes NIX Solutions.
Concerns About Implementation and Transparency
OpenAI argued that similar approaches in other regions, including the European Union, have shown that allowing rights holders to opt out of data usage presents “significant implementation challenges.” Additionally, the company noted that a strong transparency obligation could shift priorities away from innovation. “The UK has a rare opportunity to cement its place as the European AI capital by making choices that avoid political uncertainty, foster innovation, and stimulate economic growth,” OpenAI stated.
Google expressed a different but related concern. The company pointed out that rights holders already have the means to restrict content scraping by web crawlers. However, it cautioned that opting out of AI training datasets may not necessarily entitle a rights holder to compensation if their content is still used. “We believe that open internet training should be free,” Google stated, warning that “excessive transparency requirements… could hinder the development of AI and impact the UK’s competitiveness in this space.”
Awaiting the Government’s Final Decision
A spokesperson for the UK government told Politico that no final decision has been made regarding the proposed changes. As the debate continues, companies and creators alike await clarity on how the law may evolve. We’ll keep you updated as more developments emerge in this area.