Committee publication · Correspondence · 24 March 2026
Letter from Rt Hon Lisa Nandy MP, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, and Liz Kendall MP, Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, regarding Copyright and AI reports, 18 March 2026
From: Culture, Media and Sport Committee
Inquiry: The work of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport
Summary
Government correspondence from Culture and Science secretaries setting out approach to copyright and AI policy. Government confirms it has abandoned its previous preference for a rights-reservation mechanism and will not introduce copyright reforms until confident they serve both creative industries and AI growth. Four new work areas launched: digital replicas, AI-generated content labelling, creator control mechanisms, and support for independent creatives. Impact assessment provided under Data (Use and Access) Act 2025.
Key findings
- Government no longer has a preferred option on copyright and AI after consultation feedback overwhelmingly rejected the proposed opt-out regime for AI training on copyrighted works
- Creative industries worth £146 billion GVA (6% of UK economy), growing 2.5x faster than economy; UK AI sector third globally at £12 billion GVA, growing 23x faster than economy
- Government will launch summer consultation on digital replicas, autumn taskforce on AI-generated content labelling, and review of creator control mechanisms
- Four policy options assessed: status quo; strengthen copyright requiring all licensing; broad data mining exception; data mining exception with rights reservation—no option recommended pending further evidence
- Government committed to £500m Sovereign AI Unit, £5bn for scale-ups, £1bn for public supercomputers, and £100m advanced market commitment for UK computing hardware
Government position
Government accepts that both creative industries and AI sector are vital to prosperity and rejects false choice between them. Partially accepts previous consultation feedback by abandoning the preferred opt-out option, confirming 'we have listened' and will take time to get copyright reform right. Committed to protecting creators' ability to be fairly remunerated while enabling AI developers to access training data. No legislative decision until further evidence gathered on evolving licensing markets, international developments, and copyright case law.
Tone
ProceduralTopics
Key actors
Lisa Nandy, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Liz Kendall, Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, Dame Caroline Dinenage, Chair of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee, UK Government (DSIT and DCMS), Creative Industries, AI developers, Copyright owners and rightsholders
Notable line
“We reject any suggestion that we must choose between our creative industries and the UK's AI sector.”
Key Quotes
“We reject any suggestion that we must choose between our creative industries and the UK's AI sector. Both are central to the government's industrial strategy and vital to the UK's future prosperity.”
“This is why we can confirm today that the Government no longer has a preferred option. We are not the only government facing this challenge.”
“We believe that people should be paid fairly for the work that they do. It should not be that only the big and powerful can assert their rights.”
“We will not introduce reforms to copyright law until we are confident that they will meet our objectives for the economy and UK citizens.”
“The success of the AI sector and the CIs are intertwined. The CIs generate high- quality content that is needed to train the best AI models. Meanwhile, AI has the potential to transform creators' workflows, amplifying their productivity and giving them powerful new tools.”
Source · parliament.uk record ↗