Labour suffer first Parliamentary defeat in government as Lords call for tougher AI copyright reforms
Labour suffered its first Parliamentary defeat in government last night as peers backed reforms to stop big tech firms ignoring copyright rules when training AI systems.
Crossbench peer Baroness Kidron had tabled a series of amendments to the Data (Use and Access) Bill to make it clear that the ‘data-gatherer’ tools used by tech firms should stick to UK copyright law.
Backed by the recently formed Creative Rights In AI Coalition, whose members include the Publishers Association, UK Music, the Motion Picture Association and DMG Media, which owns the Daily Mail, her amendments sought to ‘counter the widespread theft’ of data by AI firms which use it as ‘raw material for their products’ without crediting the source.
Last night peers voted 145 to 126 in favour of a package of amendments to the Bill. Baroness Kidron said her measures would ‘record when, where and how intellectual property is taken and, crucially, allow creators to understand what has been taken so they can seek redress’.
She added that ‘hundreds of organisations and many individual rights holders are watching... to see what this House will do in the face of a Government proposal that will transfer their hard-earned property to another sector without compensation, and with it their possibility of a creative life, or a creative life for the next generation’.
The peer went on: ‘The Government are doing this not because the current law does not protect intellectual property rights, nor because they do not understand the devastation it will cause, but because they are hooked on the delusion that the UK’s best interests and economic future align with those of Silicon Valley.’
Crossbench peer Baroness Kidron tabled a series of amendments to the Data (Use and Access) Bill which clarify that 'web-crawlers' and 'data-gatherers' should stick to UK copyright law
Peers voted 145 to 126, majority 19, in favour of a package of amendments to the Data (Use and Access) Bill
She said the failure to defend ‘the property rights of citizens and wealth creators is bewildering’.
Her amendments were backed by Sir Elton John and Paul McCartney. Sir Elton said last week: ‘The wheels are in motion to allow AI companies to ride roughshod over traditional copyright laws.
This will allow global big tech companies to gain free and easy access to artists’ work to train their AI and create competing music.’
Owen Meredith, head of the News Media Association trade body, said the vote was ‘a warning to Government against ill-judged plans to weaken our gold-standard copyright regime and hand over copyrighted material carte blanche to AI firms’.
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