Asked by: Euan Stainbank (Labour - Falkirk)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that (a) UK-based creators have the necessary (i) tools and (ii) support to opt out of AI training and (b) AI developers respect the intellectual property rights of UK-based creators.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government published a consultation on Copyright and AI in December 2024.
This consultation seeks views on proposals to introduce a package of measures, which includes a requirement for AI developers to be more transparent about how they obtain their training material, to enable copyright to be respected and more easily enforced.
The proposals include a rights reservation mechanism. This would need to be simple, practical, and accessible to both individual creators and larger rights holders. The Government welcomes feedback from UK-based creators on this approach, and how it will work in practice.
The consultation closed on 25 February.
Asked by: Euan Stainbank (Labour - Falkirk)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps his Department is taking to help protect consumers from (a) deepfake technology, (b) AI-generated phishing scams and (c) other fraud enabled by artificial intelligence.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Government takes the threats posed by generative AI extremely seriously. That is why we are taking forward our manifesto commitment to ban the creation of non-consensual sexual deepfakes in the Data (Use and Access) Bill.
AI-generated content is captured by the Online Safety Act where it constitutes illegal content or content harmful to children on an in-scope service. Fraud is designated a priority offence under the Act, and in-scope services will need to take proactive measures to tackle illegal fraud content.
The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology also works jointly with the Home Office and HM Treasury through the Joint Fraud Taskforce to address fraud across different sectors.
Asked by: Euan Stainbank (Labour - Falkirk)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps his Department is taking to protect creative industries from AI developers scraping copyrighted works without permission or payment; and if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing (a) transparency obligations for AI developers, (b) a dynamic licensing market and (c) other protections for those industries.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government published a consultation on Copyright and AI in December 2024.
This consultation seeks views on a number of issues relating to copyright and AI including transparency from AI developers over their training sources and renumeration to the creative industries for the use of their work.
The success of any new approach to copyright and AI will depend on stronger trust between AI developers and right holders. That is why transparency and right holder control are two of the three primary objectives underpinning the Government’s approach to this work.
The consultation closes on 25 February.
Asked by: Euan Stainbank (Labour - Falkirk)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps he is taking to (a) promote and (b) support animal-free research; and what initiatives the Government provides to help increase funding for animal-free research research methods.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government is committed to supporting the uptake and development of alternative methods to the use of animals in science and we are engaging with the pharmaceutical industry and regulatory authorities on how to take this commitment forward.
A significant part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) funding supports the development of alternative methods such as microphysiological systems, (eg.organ-on-a-chip and organoid platforms) and in silico models, eg. artificial intelligence (AI). The Government also currently invests £10m annually in the National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research (NC3Rs) to accelerate the development and adoption of non-animal approaches.