The Memo: The EU’s Artificial Intelligence Act: Creatives concerned over copyright loophole

Despite its many controversies, the rapid emergence of AI is an exciting development.After all,it’s hard to predict how it will evolve, or what’s next. However, the debate about whether legislation can keep up with innovation and technology remains. So, in August 2024, the European Union passed the Artificial Intelligence Act, which sought to regulate artificial intelligence technology and hold AI companies accountable. Yet, almost nine months on,there are concerns around a glaring loophole, especially for holders of creative rights. In particular, these issues are becoming more apparent when it comes to the rise in generative AI models which can almost instantly create text, images and even songs. The Act requires tech firms to comply with 2019 copyright law that excludes text and data mining, but these models scrape publicly available texts, images and songs to train their algorithms, often without notifying or compensating the rightsholder. 

These concerns have yet again been brought to the European Commission, this time by 15 cultural organisations. And that is not all; a protest album, ‘Is This What We Want?’ was released featuring more than 1,000 musicians (and silence). This is in response to the UK government’s consultation as to whether tech firms should be allowed to use copyrighted material to train AI models unless the rightsholders explicitly opt out of trawling. A key development in the EU, meanwhile, is that a notification obligation is to come into force from 2 August. This means that no matter where companies are from, the Commission will be able to fine them for infringements, which could cost billions.