MEP Axel Voss kicks off a discussion on AI & copyright involving European AI and Cultural and Creative sectors

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MEP Axel Voss (EPP, Germany) invited representatives from the cultural and creative sectors (CCS) and the AI sector at a meeting in the EU Parliament on 15 April to discuss issues related to AI & copyright now that a provisional agreement on the AI Act has been found between the European co-legislators.

A number a speakers welcomed the AI Act as moving right direction, while stressing that a lot depended on effective implementation to actually deliver on regulating the technology and its use. MEP Voss, who was raporteur on the 2019 Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market, stressed alongside several academics and representatives of authors & performers that the Text and Data Mining exception (art. 4) was not designed in the context of generative AI uses.

FERA welcomes this parliamentary initiative and the opportunity to discuss in real time the practical impact of the technology and its current regulatory framework on European creation, creators and creative sectors.

In line with various statements and position papers produced in coordination with European authors & performers representative organisations, FERA insists on the disruptive nature of recent AI technology deployments based on the most massive theft of copyrighted material and personal data in history, and takes note of the intent to normalise these technology deployments for the potential benefit of the European economy. Yet there can be no underestimating the impact of AI on creation across all sectors and European cultural diversity, and AI regulation must tackle this head-on.

Further meetings in this configuration are planned after the European elections set to take place in June 2024.