The UK’s national newspapers along with several leading regional titles have today joined forces in a bid to halt AI bots ‘scraping’ content for free.
Industry leaders have come together to oppose government plans to water down copyright laws with the aim of making Britain an AI powerhouse.
They fear the plans will enable AI firms to scrape creative content – including journalism – from the internet without permission or payment.
The ‘Make It Fair’ campaign to raise awareness of the issue launched today with a wraparound splash in many of the country’s biggest national and regional titles.
Weekly titles will run the campaign throughout the next week, with the aim of appealing to the British public to write to their MPs and back the creative industries.
Ministers are currently considering whether to let tech companies use content without permission unless the creators specifically say “no”.
But say the plans will “legitimise content theft” and will have a “devastating” impact on creative industries
A government consultation seeking views on the copyright issue is due to close today.
Commenting on the campaign on X, Scotsman editor Alan Young wrote: “A powerful message being delivered on the front of the majority of the UK’s newspapers today, including The Scotsman – #MakeItFair.
And Yorkshire Post editor James Mitchinson said: “If we’re not careful, all of the information available to us will be the thoughts of tech-bro billionaires force-fed to us all by their machines.”
Owen Meredith, chief executive of the News Media Association, said: “We already have gold-standard copyright laws in the UK. They have underpinned growth and job creation in the creative economy across the UK – supporting some of the world’s greatestcreators – artists, authors, journalists, scriptwriters, singers and songwriters to name but a few.
“And for a healthy democratic society, copyright is fundamental to publishers’ ability to invest in trusted quality journalism.
“The only thing which needs affirming is that these laws also apply to AI, and transparency requirements should be introduced to allow creators to understand when their content is being used. Instead, the government proposes to weaken the law and essentially make it legal to steal content.
“There will be no AI innovation without the high-quality content that is the essential fuel for AI models. We’re appealing to the great British public to get behind our ‘Make it Fair’ campaign and call on the government to guarantee creatives are able to secure proper financial reward from AI firms to ensure a sustainable future for both AI and the creative industries.”
Dawn Alford, executive director of the Society of Editors, added: “Today’s unprecedented and united action by publishers shows the strength of feeling around the government’s lack of support for the creative sector when it comes to AI.
“The growth in artificial intelligence is currently being driven at the expense of news organisations and those that work in the creative industry that continue to be exploited by the unauthorised scraping of their content by generative AI tools.
“The government must act now to protect copyright, promote transparency and support a dynamic licensing market that ensures content creators are properly remunerated for their work.”
The music industry has also launched a parallel campaign in which 1,000 musicians released silent albums protesting at the plans.