The UK government just backed down from its plan to let AI companies train on copyrighted works without permission. After fierce pushback from Sir Paul McCartney, Sir Elton John, and Dua Lipa, Technology Secretary Liz Kendall announced Wednesday that the government “no longer has a preferred option” on AI copyright policy. The reversal kills a proposed data bill that would have given creators only an opt-out clause after their work was already used.
McCartney’s warning to the BBC captured the artists’ position: “You get young guys, girls, coming up, and they write a beautiful song, and they don’t own it, and they don’t have anything to do with it. And anyone who wants can just rip it off.” UK Music CEO Tom Kiehl called the government’s retreat “a major victory.”
This feels like a temporary win rather than a permanent solution. The government says it will take “the time needed” to balance artists’ wishes with AI development. That careful phrasing suggests they’re looking for a middle path that keeps both sides happy.
I’ve watched this same pattern play out across multiple industries and countries. Initial proposals favor AI companies with broad training permissions and minimal creator protections. Artists and publishers push back hard. Governments retreat to “study the issue further” while promising to balance innovation with creator rights.
How this issue is ultimately handled is critical to creators and less critical to the foundation model builders. The creators are fighting for their livelihood, while the tech giants are trying to minimize the cost of goods sold. The first big question: is AI training covered by fair use? If not, the industry will need to invent a licensing infrastructure to make payments practical at scale, perhaps an AI ASCAP-style fund. Does the UK’s retreat from blanket permissions suggest it understands that consent-based licensing is inevitable, or is it just a delaying tactic?
Author’s note: This is not a sponsored post. I am the author of this article and it expresses my own opinions. I am not, nor is my company, receiving compensation for it. This work was created with the assistance of various generative AI models.