A naukri.com initiative
Guardian
1M
192
Image Credit: Guardian
Labour’s AI plan could be good for Britain – except the creatives it will throw under the bus | Ed Newton-Rex
- The UK government’s AI opportunities action plan has been welcomed by some but has not pleased the country’s artists, who are concerned that creators are not being properly protected.
- The plan, which champions artificial intelligence and aims to put the UK at the forefront of the field, suggests making it easier for British AI companies to access “compute” and updating visa regulations. It has been put together by Matt Clifford, a venture capital investor, and could provide a welcome boost to the country's economy.
- But some recommendations have gone down badly with creatives who are worried about copyright reform proposals that encourage artists to allow their work to be used by AI companies to train models that may ultimately compete with them.
- Under the scheme, British copyright holders would need to opt out of offering their work to AI companies for free, or risk having their work used. Critics say this risks driving creatives out of business, as AI-generated output begins to replace human artistic input.
- The crux of the problem is that opt-outs are often unfair and impractical. It is difficult for creators to control the use of their work after it has been published.
- In contrast, the US offers a fair use option, which offers guidelines on what is permitted and what is not. In such cases, the competitive effect use has on the original piece of work is taken into account.
- Implementing Matt Clifford's proposals would put the UK in a strong position to become a global leader in AI, without having to radically alter existing copyright law. AlphaFold's recent Nobel Prize win is a case in point - the work was based on a database of protein structures, meaning creators' rights were not impacted by the project.
- The government's immediate pledge to implement 49 of the 50 recommendations from the action plan has caused disquiet. The consultation on AI and copyright designed to gain stakeholders' views is still underway.
- Ed Newton-Rex, founder of Fairly Trained and a visiting scholar at Stanford University, has argued that the government should weigh up the views of artists, writers and creatives against those of investors and corporations before rushing to implement reform.
- Implementing all of Clifford's recommendations would ensure that both the UK's AI industry and creative industries can equally ensure their prosperity.
Read Full Article
11 Likes
For uninterrupted reading, download the app