Cultural professionals reject Urtasun’s proposal to regulate the intellectual property of their works before AI

Organizations of authors, artists and cultural workers in the audiovisual, book and performing arts sectors have submitted to the Ministry of Culture their proposal to regulate the intellectual property of works and benefits protected by the development of artificial intelligence (AI) models. for general use.

This was stated this Wednesday in a statement signed by Alianza Audiovisual, ACE Traductores, the Association of Stage Directors of Spain (ADE), the Federation of Associations of Illustrators of Spain (FADIP), the State Federation of Company Associations and Professional Dance Companies (FECED) and the Union of Correctors (UNICO).

They have detailed that this Tuesday they met with the Undersecretary of Culture, Carmen Páez, to whom they conveyed their “concern about the form and content” of the draft royal decree that regulates the granting of expanded collective licenses for the exploitation of works and services protected by intellectual property rights for the development of general-use artificial intelligence models, in which the department directed by Ernest Urtasun works.

This new regulation would allow intellectual property rights management entities to grant licenses for the development of artificial intelligence models, not only on the works of their members but also on works of authors and artists who do not belong to them, the so-called licenses. expanded collectives. Rights holders can exercise their right to ‘opt-out’ or voluntary self-exclusion.

“The introduction of licenses of these characteristics, which do not respond to our legal tradition, requires a more slow and reflective process in which all the actors involved are listened to and where the impact of their inclusion is analyzed and taken into account. would have on the artistic and cultural ecosystem,” the organizations have defended.

Likewise, they are “surprised” that the Ministry of Culture “has gotten to work to approve a regulation of these characteristics to license the massive use of their works for artificial intelligence, without first addressing, as a necessary condition, that companies of AI respond for the illicit use they have already made of their works for the training, development and exploitation of their artificial intelligence models.

PROTECT COMPANIES AND ADMINISTRATIONS

In this sense, professional organizations have expressed their “discomfort at the insistence” of the Ministry of referring “repeatedly” in the text of the standard to the “massive exploitation” and “massive use” of their works, “concepts that seem be more intended to protect companies and public administrations that want to implement artificial intelligence models than to protect the rights of authors and artists.

In his opinion, the wording proposed by the Ministry of Culture “leaves the door open for these licenses to be used by AI companies to try to remedy, with retroactive effect, the violations of copyright and intellectual property that have already occurred.” have carried out by using millions of artistic and literary works to develop and exploit their AI models without any authorization from authors, artists and other rights holders and without remunerating them for it.

“We are surprised that a Ministry that claims to protect and defend copyright and intellectual property rights in the face of the challenges of AI wants to implement licenses so quickly and expeditiously to facilitate the ‘massive’ use of our works for development.” of artificial intelligence models both by private companies and by the Administration itself without addressing, first, the serious problem of the violation, yes ‘massive’, of our rights by AI companies”, stated the president of ACE Translators, Marta Sánchez-Nieves.

The organizations have highlighted that they presented allegations in the public hearing process that ended on December 10. “The text, in its current form, has many shortcomings and does not offer adequate protection to authors, artists and rights holders who do not belong to management entities,” they concluded.

At the end of the public hearing period on December 10, sources from the Ministry of Culture told Europa Press that it will analyze the proposals received and collect those it considers appropriate, with the aim of achieving a “consensus” text, since the current document ” base” is in a “preliminary” phase. The Urtasun department has not yet set a horizon to present its proposal to the Council of Ministers.

LEGITIMATE POSITION

Culture understands the “legitimate position” of those who do not want AI to be trained with their works, but sees it as “inevitable.” Therefore, its objective is to try to ensure that content creators benefit from it, in what it considers a “complex” and “difficult” matter that will satisfy everyone, indicated the aforementioned sources.

In this scenario, the director of the AI ​​& Big Data commission at AMETIC, Antonio Cimorra, explained that the association of technology companies believes that “Artificial Intelligence and, in particular, generative AI, represents an unprecedented opportunity to promote innovation, economic growth and productivity” in Spain. “Its development must be accompanied by an intelligent and homogeneous regulatory framework between countries and territories to avoid fragmentation and other difficulties in its development,” he added.

In statements to Europa Press, Cimorra added that the association representing the digital industry sector in Spain does not share “the need for specific legislation such as the draft royal decree on AI and Intellectual Property rights that is being proposed.” “We consider that it can lead to negative consequences for our country and our economy. We highlight that there is already a European legal framework implemented in Spain that regulates the relationship between AI training and copyright that establishes certain exceptions for copyright. author that effectively covers the training of AI models and ensures the ability of creators to protect their intellectual property,” he concluded.

For his part, the general director of the Spanish Center for Reprographic Rights (CEDRO), Jorge Corrales, indicated to Europa Press that “in the development of AI models, massive uses of works have been carried out without the necessary authorization of the owners, both by large platforms and other organizations. “Since expanded collective licenses were created fifty years ago, their original objective has not only been to facilitate the use of works, but also to ensure fair remuneration for rights holders,” he noted.

“After more than 15 years fighting in the ‘digital world’ to make effective remuneration for certain uses of copyright, at CEDRO we also now ask for a legal framework that allows the effective exercise of rights and fair remuneration, regardless of the model, in line with experiences from other countries, such as France, Australia, Norway,” commented the director of the entity that represents and defends the interests of authors and publishers of books, newspapers, magazines and sheet music.