The last time I wrote about AI at the end of November, we were just about to launch the results of our survey findings and were eagerly anticipating the launch of the Government’s AI and Copyright consultation. That arrived just prior to Christmas and closed earlier this week. It has been a busy few months and we have seen a huge reaction, both in the press and from across the creative sector, objecting to the Government’s proposed option.

Writers like Kate Mosse and Richard Osman have spoken out against the proposal to introduce a copyright exception for the use of authors’ works to train generative AI, unless rightsholders specifically opt their works out. In Westminster, Parliamentarians such as Baroness Kidron, All Party Writers’ Group Vice Chair Alison Hume MP, and Sir John Whittingdale MP all voiced their concerns about the Government’s preferred option, stressing the importance of protecting creatives and respecting their rights.

And, of course, you cannot have failed to see an industry-wide Make it Fair campaign that hit the front pages of all the main newspapers on Tuesday, along with a social media campaign, to object to the Government’s approach.

At ALCS, as well as submitting our own response, we also wanted to ensure that the Government hears from a wide range of authors’ perspectives too, so we encouraged as many of you as possible to submit your own response, producing resources to make the process as simple as possible.

Thank you to everyone who took the time to complete the consultation. This is such an important issue, and it is vitally important that your voice is heard. Baroness Kidron stated in a recent article in the Bookseller that the Government has been “overwhelmed” by the response, receiving more than 2,500 submissions. That number is bound to have increased substantially as the deadline hit.

We have also been encouraging members to write to their MP on the issue, through our dedicated website Writers Write, which streamlines the process and offers a template which can be personalised.

Just because the consultation has now closed doesn’t mean it’s too late to write to your MP. It will be many more months until this issue is resolved and the more MPs who advocate for creators, the more likely it is that we see a positive outcome. Our Writers Write website will remain open, and we encourage anyone who hasn’t yet done so to get in touch with their MP on this issue.

Our submission, which included input from our partners across the creative sector, as well as the views of members in our recent AI survey, focused on the following points:

• To reconsider the copyright exception and opt-out model, which is unfair, unworkable and will likely result in prolonged legal challenges.
• Transparency around which works have been used and by whom, which is an essential first step for any progress on the issue.
• Develop an AI Copyright Hub (an adaptation of a government proposal from 2015), which would link rightsholders with users and make use of emerging tools to streamline transparent licensing, achieving the balance the Government seeks between access for AI developers and control for rightsholders, like authors.

You can read our response in full here.