The House of Lords’ Communications and Digital Committee has issued a major warning that the UK creative industries face serious risks from generative Artificial Intelligence. The report concludes an inquiry into Artificial Intelligence, copyright, and the creative sectors, focusing on how rightsholders can protect their works from unauthorised use, how transparent and accountable developers should be, and how licensing, attribution, and labelling tools could help creators retain control over their work.
The committee’s findings are stark. It says the creative industries, which contribute £124 billion to the economy and employ 2.4 million people, are under threat. While generative Artificial Intelligence may offer opportunities for innovation and growth where safeguards are in place, the committee says it also creates substantial material risks to the work and livelihoods of individual creators, and that the impact is already being felt.
A central conclusion is that the UK should not weaken creators’ rights through copyright reform. The committee rejects changes that would dilute existing protections and says it is unconvinced by claims that the Artificial Intelligence sector would be stunted without changes such as a broader text and data mining exception for training on copyrighted works. Instead, it identifies a stronger case for reform in areas where current law does not adequately address outputs produced in the style of creators.
The report highlights gaps in protection for style imitation and digital identity, especially where systems imitate a creator’s distinctive style, voice, or persona without reproducing a specific original work. It stops short of explicitly calling for personality rights in the UK, but says the government should create protections that give creators and performers clear enforceable control over the commercial exploitation of their identity, while safeguarding freedom of expression and other legitimate uses.
The committee also examines transparency obligations for Artificial Intelligence companies, technical tools that help creators manage use of their works, and the development of licensing markets. Its recommendations include ruling out a new commercial text and data mining exception with an opt-out model, closing legal gaps around unauthorised digital replicas and harmful in the style of outputs, establishing a mandatory transparency framework for UK developers, creating conditions for a fair and inclusive UK licensing market, and prioritising the development and adoption of sovereign Artificial Intelligence models.
Baroness Keely, chair of the committee, says the future of Artificial Intelligence in the UK should rest on transparent and responsible use of training data. She calls on the government to support the country’s copyright regime and creative industries in its forthcoming economic assessment and update on Artificial Intelligence and copyright.
