Creatives face a 'kind-of apocalyptic moment’ over AI concerns, minister says
14 May 2025, 20:46
Creative industry workers feel they are facing a “kind-of apocalyptic moment”, a technology minister said as he insisted the Government wants to address concerns over artificial intelligence developers.
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Sir Chris Bryant, who is also a culture minister, acknowledged the fears of artists, musicians and others as the Government resisted calls by peers to amend the Data (Use and Access) Bill to include greater protections.
The House of Lords supported an amendment designed to ensure copyright holders would have to give permission over whether their work was used, and in turn, see what aspects had been taken, by who and when.
MPs voted 297 to 168, majority 129, to disagree with this change on Wednesday evening, which means the stand-off between the two Houses over the wording of the Bill continues.
The Government has argued some of the proposed amendments to the Bill pre-empt the results of its copyright and AI consultation and it does not want to legislate in a "piecemeal" fashion.
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The consultation 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.
Several MPs, including those on the Labour benches, pressed the Government to commit to act swiftly to protect the creative sector ahead of the vote.
Sir Chris said copyright law in the UK is "unchanged", telling the Commons: "Works are protected unless one of the existing exceptions that have existed for some time, such as exceptions for teaching and research, applies or unless the rights holder has granted permission for their work to be used.
"That is the law. It is the law now and it will be the law tomorrow if the House agrees with the Government and rejects the amendment that has been tabled."
Sir Chris said some creative industries have secured licencing agreements with AI companies under the existing law, adding: "I want to see more of that - more licencing, more remuneration of creative rights holders."
Labour MP Polly Billington (East Thanet) said: "There is an urgency in the creative industries about the fact that stuff that they create is being scraped now.
"So can the minister prioritise transparency by committing at the despatch box today to introducing enforceable obligations, if not through a statutory instrument then at least through a clear public commitment that transparency will be central to the Government's approach on AI and copyright?"
Sir Chris, in his reply, said: "Yes, we will prioritise the issue of transparency in all the work we do as we go forward."
Labour MP Paul Waugh (Rochdale) asked if the Government is "open-minded to the idea of legislative solutions" to protect copyright if there are no technical solutions.
Sir Chris, in his reply, said: "We want to get to a technical solution, which I think is not very far distant, I think it is a possibility, I wouldn't deride it, it doesn't exist at the moment but there are those who are wanting to work on it.
"And, frankly, it might be something where somebody might earn a decent penny if they were to go up with a solution so that all rights holders would be able easily, simply, without great expense to be able to protect their rights across all AI platforms that are deployed in the UK."
Sir Chris later told the chamber: "For many people in the creative industry, it does feel like a kind-of apocalyptic moment - they think that their careers are disappearing in front of their faces, I fully recognise that.
"The moment the Data Bill is out of the way, what I would like to do - and I know both the departments that I sit in - would like to get people back in, as I say, to work on two working parties.
"One - around transparency, precisely what that looks like in granular detail, because very high-level stuff I don't think really meets the moment.
"And secondly, the issue of technical standards and technical solutions that might be able to deliver greater access to data for the AI companies but also an ability for creative industries to be able to protect their works."
MPs also voted 371 to 98, majority 273, against a Lords amendment designed to require public authorities to record sex data based on biological sex.
The Bill will undergo further scrutiny at a later date.
