The Government has published its response to its consultation on
Intellectual Property and Artificial Intelligence.
Following this consultation, the
Government intends to amend copyright law to make it easier to
analyse material for the purposes of machine learning, research
and innovation. This will promote the use of AI technology, and wider “data
mining” techniques, for the public good.
Data mining is where software is used to analyse material for
patterns, trends and other useful information. The Government
intends that anyone with lawful access to material protected by
copyright should be able to carry out this analysis without
further permission from the copyright owner. Among other uses,
data mining can be used when training AI systems. For example,
machine-learning software which has been trained on large
repositories of computer code is able to intelligently suggest
new code to programmers.
This data mining provision will take advantage of the UK’s
ability to set its own copyright laws now that we have left the
EU and will put the UK’s copyright framework among the most
AI and research
friendly in the world. It will help make the UK a location of
choice for data mining and AIdevelopment, supporting the
Government’s ambition for the UK to be a global leader in
AI innovation and
research.
This initiative is targeted and will preserve wider copyright
protection, including copyright owners’ ability to control who
has access to their works. It will bring benefits to a wide range
of stakeholders in the UK, including researchers, AI developers, and cultural
heritage institutions.
The consultation also considered the extent to which inventions
and creative works which are generated by AI should be protected by
patents and copyright. The Government has decided that no changes
will be made to the UK’s patent inventorship criteria or
copyright computer generated works provisions at this time. It
will keep AI
technical development under review to help ensure that UK
inventorship rules continue to support AI innovation and will seek to
advance discussions internationally to support the UK’s economic
interests.
Science & Innovation Minister said:
Now that the UK has the ability to set our own copyright laws for
the first time in decades, we want to ensure the UK continues to
have one of the best intellectual property frameworks in the
world. IP is key to
innovation.
That’s why, following our consultation earlier this year, we
intend to bring the law up to date, embracing the challenges and
opportunities presented by rapid developments in technology. The
UK will continue to engage with partners around the world,
seeking to lead global conversations as we unleash our potential
as an innovation nation.
Our new UK rules on copyright and data mining will act as a
catalyst for our innovators to flourish, helping ensure the UK’s
IP system remains a
powerful enabler for ground-breaking R&D.
David Prosser, Executive Director, Research Libraries UK,
said:
The UK is a global research powerhouse and researchers are ready
to take advantage of powerful new AI and text and data mining
techniques. The proposed changes to copyright announced
today will allow us to harness the potential of new, innovative
computational tools and significantly advance UK research and
innovation.
Dame Wendy Hall, acting AI Council Chair said:
The AI Council’s
AI Roadmap
recommended that the Government should consider how to redefine
intellectual property to incentivise investment and attract
world-class talent to develop leading AI products and services here in
the UK.
The proposed changes to copyright law announced today will enable
the UK’s IP framework
to remain relevant, adaptable and keep pace in a changing world.
Most importantly, it will encourage UK industries to invest
strategically in AI
research, development and innovation, with the aim of becoming
globally competitive.
Notes to editors:
- the Government consulted on issues relating to intellectual
property and AI from
October 2021 to January 2022. The consultation followed the
Government’s Call for Views on
AI and
IP in 2020 and
was in line with its commitment under the Innovation Strategy
and National AI Strategypublished in
2021
- the consultation asked if the law takes the right approach to
protecting inventions and creations made by AI, and whether steps should be
taken to make it easier to use data mining techniques, including
machine learning, with copyright material
- a summary of the
responses received to the consultation is published on
GOV.UK, with the Government response
- rights holders will still be able to control and charge for
access to their works and will be able to control their wider
use. The only change is that they will no longer be able to
charge extra specifically for the ability to mine them
