Amendment to government bill hailed by Angus author as victory of 'ethical AI development'

An amendment to the Data Bill, tabled to protect creatives from having work used to train AI models without recompense, was passed by Westminster’s upper chamber last week with a 147 majority.

The Bill will now return to the Commons, with the amendment by former Bridget Jones film series producer, Baroness Beeban Kidron, inserted.

Ex-Carnoustie High School pupil Ed James, who recently discovered that all of his books had been mined illicitly by tech giant Meta to train its AI model, has welcomed the result.

A former IT consultant, he recently proposed a licensing plus royalty model which would facilitate the development of AI in the UK whilst protecting creatives against having their works ‘stolen’.

While not opposed to the development of AI, he is hopeful the amendment to the Data (Use and Access) Bill will be supported by MPs in the Commons.

The Lords vote comes days after stars such as Elton John and Paul McCartney wrote a joint letter to the Prime Minister, urging safeguards against creatives’ work being assimilated for free.

Mr James said: “As a Scottish crime author, I fully support the amendment because I believe creators should have the right to control how their work is used, especially when it’s being used to train technologies which may later compete with them, without consent or compensation.

“Whilst I welcome AI technology as a valuable research tool, that benefit shouldn’t come at the cost of losing ownership over the content that I and others have created.”

Supporters of the Bill have accused individuals within creative industries of standing in the way of changes that could make Britain a leader in AI development.

However, Mr James says the key consideration is fairness.

He added: “Protecting copyright isn’t about resisting innovation, but about ensuring AI is developed ethically, with proper credit and compensation for the human imagination which has been used to train it.”