Tech Secretary will not be ‘forced’ to choose one side in AI copyright debate

The Technology Secretary has said that he will “not have one side forcing me to make a choice between one and other”, following widespread protests in the creative sector over proposals to amend copyright law around AI.

Peter Kyle said he was “really open minded about how we move forward”, and wanted to support both the AI sector and creative industries.

A Government consultation on copyright law closed this week, but has been widely condemned by high-profile figures in the creative sector, including musicians such as Sir Elton John, Annie Lennox, Sir Paul McCartney and Kate Bush, who say the Government’s plans to make it easier for AI models to be trained on copyrighted material amount to the theft of music and will decimate the sector.

The proposals would allow tech firms to use copyrighted material from creatives and publishers without having to pay, gain a licence or reimburse creatives for using their work, and would require artists to actively choose to opt out – something they say is overly burdensome on them.

Powerful AI models need large amounts of data to be trained on to produce the responses seen in their final products, with many having already used data lifted from the open web to train their models.

Speaking to Sky News, Mr Kyle said that AI is “technology which needs enormous amounts of data in order to be effective and efficient”, but that he needs “to make sure that those people who do feel strongly about it do have the right to opt out, make sure that their material isn’t included in the harvesting”.

He told the programme that a consultation on the matter closed this week and “I’m really open minded about how we move forward, but there’s one principle I have: I will not have one side forcing me to make a choice between one or the other”.

“We have two fantastic, talented, wealth-creating industries: the creative industries and the AI technology industry. We need to find a way forward,” he said.

He said that in his brief he has been focusing on the technology side, while colleagues with culture briefs have also been working on the process.

Mr Kyle added: “As a Government, we’re really responding well to the challenge, but it’s going to be a very tricky issue. Lots of people have very strong views, but as I said before, I will not be forced to make a choice between one or the other. We will find a way forward, because Britain needs us to.”

On Tuesday, the day the Government’s consultation on the issue closed, many of the UK’s biggest newspapers added a protest wrap to their print editions calling for the Government to reconsider its plans, while more than 1,000 musicians released an album of silent studios and recording space in their own protest.

The Technology Secretary told BBC Breakfast that copyright law “just isn’t fit for purpose” to protect people when it came to AI, and that he wanted to make sure both the creative and AI sectors could “thrive” in the UK.

“We have the second largest creative arts industry in the world. And I have incredible respect and regard for those people who are creating. I know it’s not just a job, it is a vocation, and people are emotionally attached to it and we as a country celebrate the work that they do,” he said.

“We also have the third-largest market for AI in the world. Again, both of these sectors are sectors which can be high-growth, very important to the future economy and also our culture and society going forward. I want to make sure that both can thrive here in the UK in the 2020s going forward.”

He added that “at the moment the copyright law just isn’t fit for purpose for protecting people” given that “at the moment all of the big models that are harvesting this information, they’re doing it from abroad. They’re not doing it in the UK”.

The Technology Secretary also said that the Prime Minister will be keen to discuss AI during his meetings with US President Donald Trump.

Mr Kyle said it was “incredibly important” to have nations such as the UK and US “leading the race” when it came to emerging technologies such as AI.

““I know full well the Prime Minister is keen to discuss AI technology, but also find areas where we can collaborate to a greater extent going forward with the US,” he said.

“By the US and the UK working together, we believe that we can stay absolutely clearly ahead of some of the rest of the global competition, and that would deliver benefits for both.

“So those are the sorts of things that the Prime Minister is really keen to explore on behalf of British people, but also for the global good as well.”