London – A new survey of 500 developers, investors, and others working in the UK AI ecosystem shows the importance of copyright and AI regulation for the Government’s objectives of promoting UK innovation and economic growth. The new poll by J L Partners asked about the impact of whether Ministers should introduce the kind of protection for text and data mining that already exists in the EU, Japan, and the United States.
The results:
- 99% responded that AI development is reliant on text and data mining using publicly-available data, with a full 58% responding “very reliant.”
- Similarly, 94% reported that their own work was very or somewhat reliant on models built using such techniques, with a full 54% reporting “very reliant.”
- 76% thought that if the United Kingdom chose not to introduce an equivalent protection for text and data mining to those in the EU, US and Japan, it would be an important signal and the sector would likely reconsider whether the UK is a competitive environment for AI investments.
- 64% responded that if the UK does not introduce such a protection, then the Government’s wider commitment to AI will seem a lot less credible.
- 83% of respondents indicated that implementing a transparency requirement—whereby developers must disclose the sources of data used and explain how these sources contribute to the training of AI models—would likely result in delays to the deployment of AI services or features in the UK. Within this group, 36% believed that such delays would affect “many” services and features.
- Thinking about the work they and their business do in the UK, if other jurisdictions implement protections for text and data mining and the UK does not, 66% reported that projects would have to take place in other countries, with 25% reporting that “many” projects would have to do so.
The following can be attributed to CCIA Senior Director and head of CCIA’s London office Matthew Sinclair:
“With the right regulatory choices, there are exciting opportunities for the UK as companies work creatively to develop and deploy innovative new AI services. Britain has huge strengths in this sector and modernising our copyright rules to match the flexibility and clarity provided by our peers in Europe, Japan and the United States can unlock investment and growth. It is vital that the Government rejects amendments from the Lords which would frustrate the work Ministers and officials are doing to update copyright rules and enable AI development here in Britain.”
