Copyright and AI: UK government publishes statement of progress

Government consultation on copyright and AI

The government consulted on potential changes to the UK’s copyright framework to address the use of copyright works in the training of AI models, between 17 December 2024 and 25 February 2025. The consultation sought views on various policy options:

• doing nothing (Option 0)
• strengthening copyright so that developers would have to obtain a licence in all cases (Option 1)
• a broad data mining exception with no rightsholder opt out (Option 2)
• a data mining exception which allows rightsholders to reserve their rights, underpinned by measures on transparency (Option 3) – stated in the consultation to be the government’s preferred option

To learn more about the consultation, the various options the government put forward and other aspects of the consultation, read here.

To make the consultation more accessible, members of the public were able to respond either through the government’s online consultation service, Citizen Space, or by email direct to the Intellectual Property Office.

According to the Statement of Progress a little over 11,500 responses were received – 10,112 via Citizen Space, and over 1,400 by email. Of those who responded through Citizen Space, 88% supported Option 1. Only 3% of Citizen Space respondents supported Option 3. According to the Statement, email responses generally reflected the same sentiments as the responses on Citizen Space. The creative industries were strongly against Option 3 and the technology sector, including AI developers favour Option 3 and Option 2.

Stakeholder engagement and working groups

The government has held three industry roundtables during July and September 2024. Expert technical working groups have also been convened on Control and Technical Standards, Information and Transparency, Licensing and Wider Support for Creatives. The groups met between November and December 2024. In addition a cross-party Parliamentary working group has been convened, which met in October and November 2024. The views of these stakeholders and working groups will be reflected in the copyright report.

Copyright report and economic assessment

Under sections 135 and 136 of the Data (Use and Access) Act, the government must publish a copyright report on the use of copyright works in the development of AI systems. The report must consider each of the four policy options 0-4 put forward in the consultation (described above) and any alternative options the Secretary of State considers appropriate. Specifically, the report must consider and make proposals in relation to (including in relation to AI systems developed outside the UK):

• Technical measures and standards (e.g. those concerned with metadata) that may be used to control the use of works to develop AI systems and the accessing of works for that purpose (e.g. by web crawlers)
• The effect of copyright on access to and use of data by developers (e.g. the effect on text and data mining)
• The disclosure of information by developers about their use of copyright works to develop systems and how they access works for that purpose (e.g. by means of web crawlers)
• The granting of licences to developers of AI systems to do acts restricted by copyright; and
• Ways of enforcing requirements and restrictions relating to the use of copyright works and the accessing of copyright works for that purpose including enforcement by a regulator.

The government must also carry out an assessment of the economic impact of each of the four policy options, including the impact on copyright owners, developers and users. According to the Statement of Progress, the government has started work on both the report and the economic impact assessment. The report will also set out in detail the full responses to the copyright consultation.

For more detail on the copyright obligations under the Data (Use and Access) Act read here.

Next steps

Both the copyright report and the economic impact assessment will be laid before Parliament by 18 March 2026.

We are following the government’s progress in this area closely and will continue to keep clients up to date with developments on Our Thinking and our AI Hub. If you want to discuss any of the issues coming out of the consultation or you need support with contributing to the debate, do get in touch with us.

Authored by Penny Thornton.