The UK government has retreated from a plan that would have allowed artificial intelligence firms to train models on copyrighted material unless creators explicitly opted out, a move welcomed by the creative sector as a major reprieve. Equity, the performers' and artists' union, said ministers had stepped back from a policy that it believed would have hit members' earnings and bargaining power.

According to government papers on copyright and artificial intelligence, ministers are now pursuing a wider consultation rather than forcing through the previously favoured approach. The consultation says policy must balance the interests of rights holders and AI developers, and the government has acknowledged that further analysis is needed before any change to copyright law is made.

The reversal followed sustained pressure from across the creative industries. Equity said the abandoned model would have amounted to allowing AI companies to use creative work without permission, while other industry groups and media reports described the proposal as deeply unpopular with actors, musicians and writers. Technology Secretary Liz Kendall has since said the government no longer has a preferred option, underscoring how far the policy has shifted since it was first presented earlier this year.

For the arts sector, the move removes an immediate threat, but not the wider dispute over how AI systems should be trained and who should be paid when creative work is used. The government has not ruled out further reform, and the current pause leaves the question unresolved as ministers search for a framework that can satisfy both a fast-growing technology industry and a cultural economy that depends on copyright protection.

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Source: Noah Wire Services