{"id":482912,"date":"2026-03-18T22:22:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T22:22:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/482912\/"},"modified":"2026-03-18T22:22:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T22:22:08","slug":"actors-musicians-and-writers-welcome-uk-u-turn-on-ai-use-of-copyrighted-work-ai-artificial-intelligence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/482912\/","title":{"rendered":"Actors, musicians and writers welcome UK U-turn on AI use of copyrighted work | AI (artificial intelligence)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Actors, musicians and writers have welcomed the UK government\u2019s decision to backtrack on plans to let AI firms use copyright-protected work without permission<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Technology secretary Liz Kendall<\/a> said it no longer had a \u201cpreferred option\u201d on copyright reform, having previously supported a proposal allowing tech companies to take copyrighted work \u2013 unless rights holders opted out of the process.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have listened,\u201d said Kendall on Wednesday, \u201cwe have engaged extensively with creatives, AI firms, industry bodies, unions, academics and AI adopters, and that engagement has shaped our approach. This is why we can confirm today that the government no longer has a preferred option.\u201d<\/p>\n

The proposal had triggered a backlash from Elton John, who called the government \u201cabsolute losers\u201d over the plans<\/a>. Dua Lipa, Abba\u2019s Bj\u00f6rn Ulvaeus, the actor Julianne Moore and the Radiohead singer Thom Yorke are among thousands of artists who voiced their concerns<\/a> over the potential legal overhaul.<\/p>\n

Creative industry organisations welcomed the new government stance. Equity, the actors\u2019 trade union, said the move was \u201crecognition that selling out the UK\u2019s creative industries to benefit US tech companies would\u2019ve been an act of national self-sabotage\u201d.<\/p>\n

UK Music, a trade body representing the UK music industry including the Musicians\u2019 Union, said it was \u201cdelighted\u201d but urged the government to rule out the proposal altogether.<\/p>\n

The Society of Authors said the announcement was a \u201chard-won\u201d moment for writers and creators, while the News Media Association \u2013 whose members include the Guardian \u2013 said giving away the UK\u2019s \u201cgoldmine\u201d of creative content was not the way to drive economic growth.<\/p>\n

Intellectual property has become a key battleground in the development of AI because the technology requires vast amounts of data, including copyright-protected work taken from the open web, to develop tools such as chatbots and image generators.<\/p>\n

Ed Newton-Rex, a composer and campaigner for protecting artists\u2019 copyright, said the creative industries should not celebrate too soon. \u201cVirtually everything is still on the table, including the opt-out,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s just kicking the can down the road.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kendall\u2019s announcement came as the government published an update on its proposals, including an economic impact assessment \u2013 although it did not provide a \u201cmonetised\u201d economic cost for each of its four copyright proposals.<\/p>\n

Along with the former preferred option, a government consultation is considering: leaving the situation unchanged; forcing AI companies to seek licences for using copyrighted work; or allowing AI firms to use copyrighted work with no opt-out for creative companies and individuals.<\/p>\n

Beeban Kidron, a cross-bench peer who led opposition<\/a> to the proposals in the House of Lords, said there was \u201cnothing but political will\u201d standing in the way of letting artists see how and where their work is being used by AI firms \u2013 which would pave the way for them to be compensated.<\/p>\n

Kendall also announced the establishment of a taskforce to examine proposals to label AI content; a consultation on protecting someone\u2019s likeness from being used in deepfakes; a working group to support smaller creative organisations in licensing their content; and a review of how creators can monitor use of their work by AI firms.<\/p>\n

Antony Walker, deputy chief executive at techUK, a tech industry trade body, said the announcement must be used as an opportunity to \u201creset and find a way forward\u201d on copyright.<\/p>\n

The economic impact assessments said leaving copyright law unchanged could benefit creative firms by growing the market for licensing content to AI firms, but could prevent the development of cutting-edge AI models in the UK.<\/p>\n

Requiring licensing could result in some AI tools being withdrawn from the UK, the government added, although it could be a \u201cnet positive\u201d for the creative sector. Waiving copyright for AI firms could put at risk a \u201cglobally competitive\u201d creative sector but would lower costs for tech firms, it said, while the controversial opt-out option could affect both sides if it is not implemented efficiently.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Actors, musicians and writers have welcomed the UK government\u2019s decision to backtrack on plans to let AI firms…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":482913,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[554,733,4308,86,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-482912","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-artificial-intelligence","8":"tag-ai","9":"tag-artificial-intelligence","10":"tag-artificialintelligence","11":"tag-technology","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom","14":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482912","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=482912"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482912\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/482913"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=482912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=482912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=482912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}