Generative AI and the UK creative industries: looking beyond copyright
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: This article argues that framing the impact of Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) on the United Kingdom (UK) creative industries in predominantly copyright terms obscures a more comprehensive description of the issues at stake for creators, as well as potential solutions. After interrogating the limits of a copyright framing, it explores alternative interventions, thus pointing to a blueprint for future policymaking. After a short introduction, the second part explains why we think copyright policy has dominated the discourse on GenAI and the creative industries. We then move to analyse the sorts of issues that a copyright lens obscures, focusing on the limits of copyright in relation to GenAI, the inconsistencies of copyright licensing as an important copyright framing-and-solution pair which cannot fully address the more complex causes of the harms at play, and how copyright distracts from other significant harms, namely the broader dynamics of data capture and platform dependencies. Finally, we explore alternative solutions at different levels. Specifically, we advocate that opportunities for collective bargaining should be encouraged, to consider expansion of the digital services tax, and to nurture reciprocity norms and transparency mechanisms for creative content. Further, we conclude with potential measures to sustain and empower creators, including skills development, structural improvements to the bargaining position of freelance creators, and investments in public digital infrastructure.
Language: English
Subfield: Artificial Intelligence
Field: Computer Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7214409949