AI firms should pay for the creative content they rip-off to train their systems - in the same way they pay staff wages and electricity bills

AI firms should pay for the creative content they rip-off to train their systems in the same way they pay staff wages and electricity bills, ministers have been told.

This comes as the Government was last night accused of failing to be an ‘honest broker’ over its plans to allow AI companies to ignore copyright rules when training their systems.

There has been growing criticism over new Government proposals which would make it the responsibility of creative organisations to opt out, if they do not want their work exploited.

Yesterday MPs raised concerns about the proposed scheme, as media minister Sir Chris Bryant made a ministerial statement on the consultation.

Liberal Democrat Sarah Olney told Mr Bryant: ‘Creatives deserve to be compensated for their work.

‘AI companies will happily pay the electricity bill for their data centres and wages for their staff. So why should they not also pay to access the creative content on which their models depend?’

She said: ‘It’s clear that AI offers a fantastic opportunity for our economy, but it must supplement and grow industries rather than replace them wholesale.’

Recent research, reported by the BBC, showed that generative AI systems could use about 33 times more energy than machines running more specific software.

The Government was accused of failing to be an ‘honest broker’ over its plans to allow AI companies to ignore copyright rules when training their systems

There has been growing criticism over new Government proposals which would make it the responsibility of creative organisations to opt out

Shadow minister for science, innovation and technology, Dr Ben Spencer, criticised the Government saying it had appeared to have been one-sided on the issue.

He said: ‘Sadly, rather than taking an open position as an honest broker, it is clear today that the Government has already picked one side of this debate.

‘His preference for a data mining opt-out for the creative industries will place extra burden on creators to protect their intellectual property.’

He added that the announcement of an opt-out represented ‘nothing but uncertainty for the creative industries.’

There is huge controversy over the way tech companies use content to feed their AI systems, without paying or crediting these firms.

More than 40 organisations from music, art, publishing and film, including Daily Mail owner DMG Media, this week called on the Government to tackle unauthorised use of content to train AI systems.

Speaking in parliament, the Liberal Democrat’s science, innovation and technology spokesperson, Victoria Collins, said: ‘There is no uncertainty in existing laws. UK law is totally clear that commercial organisations must license the data to train their large language models.

She added: ‘The announcement the government favours a text and data mining exception will be deeply concerning to the creative industries.’

This comes as the chief executive of the BPI, which represents the UK’s music industry also raised concerns about the plans, saying they amounted to a ‘subsidy’ for tech giants.

Dr Jo Twist said: ‘A copyright exception would weaken the UK’s copyright system and offer AI companies permission to take - for their own profit, and without authorisation or compensation - the product of UK musicians’ hard work, expertise, and investment.

‘It would amount to a wholly unnecessary subsidy, worth billions of pounds, to overseas tech corporations at the expense of homegrown creators.’

Sir Chris Bryant told MPs yesterday: ‘If we were to adopt a too-tight regime, based on proactive explicit permission, the danger is that international developers would continue to train their models using UK content accessed overseas but may not be able to deploy them in the UK.

‘As AI becomes increasingly powerful and widely adopted globally, this could significantly disadvantage sectors across our economy, including the creative industries and sweep the rug from underneath British AI developers.’

He added: ‘Many people have called this question an existential one for the creative industries. They are right.

‘We see this consultation, therefore, as a pivotal opportunity to ensure that sustained growth and innovation for the UK’s AI sector continues to benefit creators, businesses and consumers alike, while preserving the values and principles that make our creative industries so unique.’