Following the gallant and unprecedented “ping pong” battle between the House of Lords and the House of Commons led by the fearless Baroness Beeban Kidron, our own ACID Ambassador Lord Tim Clement-Jones and many others, the House of Commons used their veto to pass the Data (Use and Access) Bill which will now become law following Royal Assent.

Whilst there are so many aspects of this Bill that will improve and place guardrails in the positive ways about data use and access, the loss for the creative industries is profound allowing generated Artificial Intellgence and Big Tech to continue to data scrape copyright works without attribution, transparency or recompense.

Secretary of State Peter Kyle, MP has given a commitment to:

• Conduct a binding economic impact assessment within one year of enactment.
• Publish follow-up reports on licensing, transparency, and data usage.
• Signal openness to “all options” rather than relying solely on the opt‑out model

Meanwhile “data scraping” by Big Tech of copyright work continues to collect billions if not trillions of data, at an exponential pace which could have existential consequences

As Lord Tim Clement-Jones eloquently stated in the New Statesman recently, “The goal isn’t whether to regulate AI, but how to regulate it promoting both innovation and responsibility. We need principles-based rather than overly prescriptive regulation, assessing risk and emphasising transparency and accountability without stifling creativity.” He continued “Achieving the balance between human potential and machine innovation isn’t just possible – it’s necessary as we step into an increasingly AI-driven world. That’s what we must make a reality.”

Baroness Kiron summed it up in a strong letter to the Prime Minister ending with,

“Our copyright is not yours to give away!”

Dids Macdonald Chair and Co-Founder of ACID said, “The fight is far from over and we echo the voices of millions to “Make it Fair.” No-one can deny all the positive aspects of AI but content creators’ work, apart from fair recompense, must be afforded transparency, ethics and respect and we will continue to join forces to safeguard copyright and designs to create a fair framework. I fully endorse Lord Tim Clement-Jones’ New Statesman comment, regarding Digital citizenship: “we must equip citizens for the AI age, ensuring they understand how their data is used and AI’s ethical implications.”

Current US Activity on AI; According to Graham Lovelace’s excellent intel, below is a short summary on the US and AI “California Governor Gavin Newsom welcomed a major report supporting renewed AI safety regulation efforts in the state. This comes as Trump’s OBBB bill seeks to block state-level AI rules for 10 years, sparking nationwide bipartisan backlash. Newsom criticized the bill for undermining protections against AI misuse, vowing California would keep leading responsible innovation. He praised researchers behind the report, which follows his veto of SB 1047 — a divisive AI safety bill backed by Hinton, Benjio, and Musk”.

How can you be involved? ACID’s message is simple, if you care about this write to your MP, ask them if they voted for this Bill and, if so why. If you are not sure of your MP, find out here and ask them to sign our ACID IP Charter. The more signatories we have the stronger we become. Our grateful thanks to Dids’ MP Liberal Democrat Munira Wilson, MP for Twickenham who was the first to sign.