AI: Intellectual Property Rights Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateBaroness Stowell of Beeston
Main Page: Baroness Stowell of Beeston (Conservative - Life peer)Department Debates - View all Baroness Stowell of Beeston's debates with the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology
(3 months, 2 weeks ago)
Lords ChamberMy Lords, I am grateful to my noble friend for giving way. As I said in my letter last week to the Secretary of State on behalf of the Communications and Digital Select Committee, the Government’s reluctance to take a clear position on copyright in the context of AI and large language models is leading to
“problematic business models … becoming entrenched and normalised”.
The Government urgently need to take a clear position, and soon. On a practical basis, what support are they giving to market-led initiatives to improve licensing deals for news publishers and to get collective licensing regimes off the ground, to ensure that smaller rights-holders are also not left behind?
I thank my noble friend and her committee for that important letter. First, we must not underestimate the difficulty and complexity of the issues involved in resolving this question; there are very problematic jurisdictional and technical issues. That said, the Government greatly welcome any arrangement between private sector organisations finding a way forward on this; we can all learn a great deal from the success of those arrangements. We believe that a collaborative way forward on both sides, in partnership, will be a very important part of the eventual solution.