Motion 11
UK AI and Copyright Legislation - Impacts on Creative Industries, Artists and Cultural Workers
“That this Congress notes that on the 17th December 2024, the UK Government launched an open consultation on ‘Copyright and Artificial Intelligence’ asking for ‘views on how the Government can ensure the UK’s legal framework for AI and copyright supports the UK creative industries and AI sector together.’ The consultation was supposed to stay open until February 25th 2025, however in a shock announcement on January 13th, the UK Government declared its adoption of the 25 page report ‘AI Opportunities Action Plan’, written by Matt Clifford, a former tech adviser to the Tories.
“Congress notes that this announcement has undermined the purpose of the consultation, and it indicates that PM Kier Starmer appears to not care about the threat to livelihoods of tens of thousands of artists, musicians, writers, performers, technicians and cultural workers. The PM also appears to care more about pleasing the big-tech oligarchs than protecting the UK’s Creative Industries which contributes £126bn a year to the UK economy.
“Congress believes that the current UK 1988 Copyright, Design and Patents Act, is clear that if AI companies wish to train their commercial generative AI models on copyrighted material, they must obtain a licence agreement. We must protect the existing copyright laws in order to protect our shared culture sector for future generations. We must also protect against the misuse of generative AI for malevolent purposes such as misinformation, fake news and Far Right propaganda.
“Congress calls upon the General Council to campaign along with the STUC Creative Industries Trade Unions Group to:
• challenge the UK Government, Scottish Government and the opposition parties to uphold the current UK Copyright legislation, and to insist that AI companies must use licenced creative works when they are training their AI models; and
• challenge the Labour Government to stand up to the big-tech broligarchs.”
Mover: Scottish Artists’ Union
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