The UK’s code of rules for AI copyright has been delayed Credit: Getty Images / Dragon Claws

In a blow to the UK creative industries, the government has been forced to delay a long-awaited code outlining rules on the training of AI models with copyrighted material. 

It follows concern from artists, authors and musicians who fear their work will be used and copied without compensation.  

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The UK Intellectual Property Office (IPO) brought together representatives from AI companies, as well as arts and news organisations, to produce guidance on the mining of text and data for AI models.

Despite talks proceeding, it has been reported that the UK AI copyright code has been delayed after the group failed to agree on a set of rules.

The responsibility has now been returned to the Department for Science Innovation and Technology, marking a blow to the UK’s creative industries which were hoping for definitive guidelines to be published. 

A white paper is expected to be published by the UK government which will set out more AI proposals over the coming days. However, it will likely not set out any strict policies, according to the Financial Times, citing people familiar with the matter.

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In the US, AI companies have faced multiple lawsuits from figures in the creative industry that believe the copyright of their work has been breached to train AI models.

In September 2023, authors Michael Chabon, Rachel Snyder and Ayelet Waldman, filed a lawsuit against OpenAI after claiming their published works had been used in the training process of ChatGPT without their consent.

In December, the New York Times sued OpenAI and investor Microsoft following accusations that it used “millions” of articles to train the generative AI program.

The US news publication claimed that the two businesses should be held responsible for “billions of dollars” in damages, according to the lawsuit.