As the AI Act falls short on protecting copyright, creatives eye licensing reform
The Commission released Thursday much-anticipated template for AI developers to summarise the data used to train their models. However, the measure has been met with scepticism from creators, who believe that transparency alone is not enough to safeguard their copyrights.
By nature, GPAI models – the technology that underpins the likes of ChatGPT, Le Chat, or Midjourney – require vast amounts of data to produce outputs that are more accurate and less likely to be biased.
But the provenance of the data is often opaque, and creatives and artists worry that they have no way of knowing whether their work was used to train AI systems – and therefore no way to object to its use. Transparency as a first step The EU's landmark Artificial Intelligence Act is intended to bring greater transparency to AI systems and enable creators to assert their copyright claims.
The law requires developers of GPAI models to produce summaries of the data used for training, and to implement systems allowing right holders to "opt out" of having their content used for model development.
On Thursday, the Commission published the template it expects AI developers to use for these summaries of training data. This aspect of the AI Act faced intense lobbying by copyright holders, who wanted the templates to be as granular as possible, and AI companies, who worried too much detail could reveal trade secrets.
But industry is not convinced by the Commission's implementation. "It falls short of safeguarding the creative sector and, if not corrected, risks undermining Europe's AI Act and copyright framework in favour of a few global tech companies," Burak Özgen, deputy general manager of GESAC, the authors and composers' lobby, told Euractiv.
A Code of Practice for GPAIs was also negotiated between experts, lobbyists and civil society over several months to further flesh out compliance around key issues such as copyright. But for rights holders, the final text also fell short.
The improvements in the final version of the Code are " certainly insufficient", said Özgen, arguing that it lacks "concrete" detail which would make it "actionable". His blunt summary is that the Code does "nothing useful to help exercising and enforcing the rights of authors". Copyright rules fit for GenAI At the core of the disagreement between right holders and AI developers is how copyright rules apply to generative AI tools – and what should come next.
The EU's Copyright Directive allows the use of software that crawls the internet, on lawfully accessed websites and databases, to collect copyrighted text and images for data analytics or research – aka text and data mining (TDM) – unless copyright holders have actively opted out of having their work scraped.
For the tech lobby CCIA, the TDM exception is essential to support AI innovation. The rules were " carefully designed to strike a vital balance between fostering innovation and protecting intellectual property," CCIA Europe's Senior Policy Manager, Boniface de Champris, told Euractiv.
However, a study ordered by the Parliament's legal affairs committee takes a very different view, finding that the TDM rules were not intended for generative AI – and "do not provide legal certainty, transparency, or effective rights control", as the report puts it.
The two camps remain divided over this issue, which may be why right holders are now turning their attention towards a potential dedicated framework for licensing agreements. Finding a way to be appropriately compensated for use of their works to train AI remains a central concern for them, especially as GenAI uptake accelerates.
A draft Parliament report led by MEP Axel Voss – who also negotiated the EU's existing Copyright Directive – makes the case for a new framework to enable licensing deals to be concluded. The report must still be amended by other MEPs before it can represent the Parliament's official position.
But the composer and songwriters lobby ECSA was happy that Voss' draft report " rejects the application of the TDM exceptions to Generative AI, and calls to ensure fair remuneration," as Helienne Lindvall, its president, told Euractiv.
The ball is now in the Commission's court. It must decide whether to respond to the rise of GenAI by revising the EU's copyright framework – with the Copyright Directive up for review in 2026 – and, if so, figure out how to ensure that any new rules strike the right balance between support for AI innovation and protecting human creativity.
(nl, aw)
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Euractiv
2 hours ago
- Euractiv
EU's privacy supervisor clears Commission's use of Microsoft
European institutions' privacy supervisor closed its enforcement action on the Commission's use of Microsoft on Monday, following updates to the Commission's privacy practices. The development – which clears the Commission's use of Microsoft's digital products – follows exchanges between the EU's executive and the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS). In March 2024, the EDPS found that the EU's executive had breached data protection rules for EU institutions over its use of Microsoft products such as Office 365. The EDPS' 2024 decision determined that the Commission's contract with Microsoft for cloud collaborative tools insufficiently protected personal data from transfers outside the European Economic Area (EEA). It also provided recommendations for bolstering protections. The Commission has since updated its contract with Microsoft in line with the EDPS' recommendations. Under the new approach, Microsoft must now specify the purpose for which data may be transferred outside the EEA, along with stipulating any recipients. The updated contract also requires it to list countries to which data may be sent, limiting it to places where the EU recognises an equivalent level of privacy protections or where public interest makes a transfer necessary. New provisions in the contract further mandate that Microsoft discloses to the Commission when it is asked by another country to comply with data access requests, unless the request is from the EU or a country with equivalent data protections. In a statement about closing the enforcement, EDPS Wojciech Wiewiórowski also called on other EU institutions, bodies, offices and agencies that use or are considering adopting Microsoft 365 services to carry out "similar assessments and to implement technical and organisational measures comparable to those adopted by the Commission". Microsoft welcomed the EDPS' move, a spokesperson told Euractiv . Digital sovereignty and adequacy In parallel with the EDPS' green light to continue buying Microsoft, the Commission remains worried about its heavy dependence on the non-European company for digital platforms and products that are needed to ensure the EU's administration can function day-to-day. The bloc's executive has also continued to recognise the US as having equivalent privacy protections as the EU's, under the high level adequacy deal agreed two years ago. However, since then, US President Donald Trump's decision to switch Democrats for Republicans in key positions within US privacy oversight bodies has raised concerns over their independence – and, therefore, over the validity of the EU-US adequacy decision. (nl)
Euractiv
2 hours ago
- Euractiv
EU-US deal avoided ‘potentially devastating' consequences, Italian Prime Minister Meloni says
She added, however, that she still had to 'study the details' of the deal AFP Jul 28, 2025 12:30 1 min. read News Service Produced externally by an organization we trust to adhere to journalistic standards. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni welcomed an EU-US trade deal on Monday, saying it had avoided "potentially devastating" consequences. Meloni – an ally of US President Donald Trump on many issues – had earlier this month warned against a "trade war within the West". Speaking at a summit in Ethiopia, Meloni said a "trade escalation between Europe and the United States would have had unpredictable and potentially devastating consequences". She added, however, that she still had to "study the details" of the deal. She spoke hours after Trump and the EU's Ursula von der Leyen struck the deal – that will see EU exports taxed at 15 percent – in Scotland. Meloni stressed she views the fact that a deal was struck at all "positively." The right-wing Italian leader said Rome will look into whether exemptions could be possible, "particularly on some agricultural products". (vib)
Euractiv
2 hours ago
- Euractiv
Chinese e-commerce giant Temu accused of breaching EU's digital rules
On Monday the Commission announced that it has found the Chinese e-commerce giant Temu is breaching the bloc's Digital Services Act (DSA) after it failed to assess risky and illegal products on its online marketplace. Temu, which is one of a handful of online platforms offering heavily discounted goods that typically ship directly from China, has been under investigation by the Commission since October, when it opened a DSA probe on the marketplace covering multiple concerns, including over the sale of illegal products. Announcing its preliminary finding today, the Commission said it believes Temu has failed to properly assess risks posed by products for sale on its marketplace. The finding follows a risk assessment report which Temu submitted to the Commission last October as it was required to do under the DSA. However the report lacked specificity. It "primarily looked at general issues for online marketplaces and not specific issues with respect to its own marketplaces," a Commission official told reporters during a background briefing earlier today. EU consumers are also very likely to find unsafe products on Temu – including toys and small electronics – according to a Commission "mystery shopping exercise" which was conducted as part of its DSA oversight. Unsafe products is one part of the Commission's ongoing investigation against Temu. But the Commission has other concerns that it's still examining, including probes on addictive design, recommender systems and transparency obligations. Following the Commission's initial findings, Temu has been given a few weeks to provide a response, per an EU official. The EU's executive did not give a precise deadline for when it expects Temu's feedback on its findings. Under the DSA, companies can be fined up to 6% of their annual total worldwide turnover. While there is no EU fine for Temu today, ultimately, if the Commission confirms a breach it could issue the marketplace with a financial penalty. Separately, Temu has been under a consumer protection probe since last November. That ongoing investigation, which falls under EU consumer laws, is co-led by the Commission and national consumer protection authorities, including Belgium and Ireland. (nl)
