Our response to the UK’s copyright consultation

Today, OpenAI wrote to the UK Parliament’s Science, Innovation and Technology Committee to share our submission for the UK Government’s AI and Copyright consultation. We welcome the opportunity to work with the UK Government, Parliament and rightsholders toward solutions that both establish the UK as the AI capital of Europe and maintain the legitimate interests of copyright owners.

A summary of our response to the consultation and the submission in full are available below.

Laws are set by nations but technologies are borderless. For the UK to establish itself as the AI capital of Europe, its rules and regulations must be clear and promote the nation’s competitiveness relative to other jurisdictions that also are vying for AI investment, infrastructure and talent.

We believe the most effective way for the UK Government to achieve its stated goals of unlocking and leveraging the broad benefits of AI for its citizens is through a broad text and data mining exception (TDM), as described in Option Two of the consultation proposal.

Our position is based on three key principles:

1. The UK has a robust AI ecosystem, but global competitiveness requires treating data access as a fundamental building block for AI-driven economic growth and investment. The UK can become a global leader in AI by adopting policies that build on its current strengths. British researchers have been instrumental in advancing the AI field, and today the UK is one of the leading countries in the world for AI adoption. However, seizing this potential will require a policy framework that recognizes the crucial role of data in developing advanced AI systems, creating new AI-driven applications to solve hard problems, and driving economic growth and investment.
   
2. A broad TDM exception is necessary to drive AI innovation and investment in the UK, and can be made to balance the needs of AI development with the mitigation of concrete harms to copyright owners. Innovation and investments in AI infrastructure are only possible in jurisdictions where laws clearly support technological research and development. The UK must create a clear, predictable regulatory environment that sets it apart from other jurisdictions in order to boost its competitiveness. Such laws are not zero-sum: the Government can implement a broad TDM exception (Option Two) in a way that encourages innovation, addresses specific rightsholder concerns, and recognizes that AI will create new opportunities for creators’ and rightsholders’ creative output.
3. The EU regime shows the challenges of implementing opt-out systems. In the EU, the lack of clear and scalable technical standards has created uncertainty about what opt-out methods are workable and valid, causing uncertainty for both AI companies and rightsholders. In contrast, the US approach has sustained American leadership in earlier technological waves and now AI. The UK has a rare opportunity to cement itself as the AI capital of Europe by making choices that avoid policy uncertainty, foster innovation, and drive economic growth.

The choice for the UK is clear: promote innovation by adopting policies that will help achieve breakthroughs in education, science, and healthcare—or cede AI leadership and influence on the future of this transformative technology to others.

Our full response to the AI and Copyright consultation is available here⁠(opens in a new window).

We look forward to working with governments and creators everywhere to shape the future of AI innovation and copyright.