Earlier this week, we submitted comments (available as a PDF file) to the UK Intellectual Property Office’s consultation on copyright and artificial intelligence (AI). Our contribution reflects COMMUNIA’s position that a general text and data (TDM) mining exception for scientific research is needed to enable any kind of research that relies on large amounts of data, including where this involves AI or results in the development of an AI model.
A rights reservation mechanism for some types of commercial TDM can be an acceptable compromise to balance the interests of copyright holders with those of AI companies. However, such an “opt-out” should be clearly limited in scope to safeguard the public interest in access to knowledge and innovation.
COMMUNIA’s positions in this area are well-established. We have been an active participant in EU policy debates around copyright and AI for a number of years. Throughout the negotiations of the AI Act, we have advocated for the applicability of the TDM exceptions in Articles 3 and 4 of the EU Copyright in the Digital Single Market Directive to AI Training. We have also supported workable transparency requirements since the publication of our policy paper #15 on teaching the machine in April 2023 and we continue to do so in the current consultations on a General Purpose AI Code of Practice by the European AI Office.
