Feed The Robot; Starve The Copyright Owners?

There's little doubt that AI has proven to be a powerful tool, with user rates growing at a phenomenal rate.

But the very thing that makes it so useful, is creating major headaches in the world of copyright law as lawmakers try to find a balance between the massive database AI needs to function, learn and grow, and the very real rights of copyright holders to their creations.

Should AI be allowed to roam at will?

Should there be some form of licensing or fair rights agreement and how would that even work?

Weiken Yau takes a look at the efforts so far and discusses future options.

The UK proposal

In 2022, the UK government launched a consultation on its proposal to carve a new copyright exemption for "text and data mining", which, if adopted, would allow AI models to be fed with copyright-protected work without the need for a licence from copyright owners.