Artist-supported amendment to AI bill defeated in Commons vote

An amendment to proposed government legislation designed to give greater protection for creative work has been defeated by MPs.

The amendment to the Data (Use and Access) Bill would have required tech companies to comply with current copyright law and disclose information about which text and data they use.

It was first proposed by crossbench peer Beeban Kidron, and had been supported by a range of high-profile people in the arts including Andrew Lloyd Webber, Tom Stoppard and Stephen Fry.

Earlier this year the amendment was passed by the House of Lords, but it was subsequently removed by the House of Commons.

Liberal Democrat MP Victoria Collins reintroduced it to the Commons, but on Wednesday (7 May) it was voted against by 287 to 88. 

Tom Peters, head of policy at Equity, said: “We are disappointed that the government was not willing to commit to new legislation to tackle these ongoing mass breaches of UK copyright and data protection law by big firms.” 

He added: “Equity will continue to use all the tools available to us – industrial, political and legal – to protect our members from having their life’s work stolen by AI companies.”

Members of Equity and the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain had protested outside parliament in support of the amendment.