The think-tank set up by former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair has some thoughts on “rebooting copyright” for the AI era. It’s safe to say the music industry won’t like them.
You can read the report here. It backs the government’s proposal for a text-and-data mining (TDM) exception for AI training with an ‘opt out’ system for rightsholders – something that has been criticised as unworkable by rightsholders and AI firms alike.
The report also criticises rightsholders’ arguments that AI developers should pay to license their material for training, and calls for a new ‘Centre for AI and Creative Industries’ hub to tackle challenges around AI and copyright.
AI-music veteran Ed Newton-Rex, who has been leading the music industry’s campaigns on AI regulation and copyright infringement, certainly didn’t mince his words in his response to the report.
In a blog post describing it as “a shambles” he suggested that it “reads like a cross between a big tech lobbying document and a funding proposal for a new academic centre no one wants” before criticising a variety of its claims one by one.
“It’s perhaps not surprising that the Tony Blair Institute would align so closely with big tech interests. We can only hope the government doesn’t give this report the same weight as the protests of the country’s creators,” concluded Newton-Rex.
