The UK government is set to consult on a scheme that would allow AI companies to scrape content from publishers and artists unless they “opt out”,

UK to consult on ‘opt-out’ AI content scraping in blow to publishers

submited by

Style Pass

2024-10-16 18:30:04

The UK government is set to consult on a scheme that would allow AI companies to scrape content from publishers and artists unless they “opt out”, in a move that would anger the creative industry.

The decision follows months of lobbying from both sides over whether online content should be automatically included in material that AI firms can use to train their algorithms.

Big tech companies including Google owner Alphabet have argued that they should be able to mine the internet freely to train their algorithms, with companies and creators being given the opportunity to “opt out” of such arrangements.

But publishers and creatives have argued that it is unfair and impracticable to ask them to opt out of these arrangements, as it is not always possible to know which companies are trying to mine their content.

They fear such a system would create a huge administrative burden, particularly on smaller companies, and have argued instead that they should have to actively opt in for AI systems to use their content. This would allow them to formulate licensing agreements and get reimbursed for their intellectual property, they argued.