The UK Data (Usage and Access) bill finally passed Parliament without the protection of creatives that key industry figures and their House supporters wanted to secure.
The bill was introduced to Parliament by the government last October and covers a variety of data regulations aimed at “unlocking the safe and effective use of data for the public interest without putting pressure on the country’s finances.”
The sticking point of the creative industry was fearful that tech companies could train AI with copyrighted materials without the consent of the rights holder.
The Senate, the second room of Congress, called for amendments to the bill to better protect the creative rights featured by former filmmaker Barones Beavan Kidron, who is a crossbench peer and director of Bridget Jones. The bill must be approved in the same way by both the House and House of Representatives before it becomes law.
The letter was signed by more than 400 British musicians, writers and artists and addressed to Starmer of Kiel to appeal to the Prime Minister to support Kidron’s revision. Dua Lipa, Elton John, Ian McKellen, Ishiguro Kazuo, David Hare, Tom Stopperd and Richard Curtis were among the prominent figures who signed the letter.
The government refused to amend it, saying it is holding separate copyright consultations and plans for another AI bill.
The bill had been piercing between the House and the House for a month. It is currently passed without amendments and becomes law once royal consent is given.
Earlier this month, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandi spoke about Deloitte Enders’ Media Telecom 2025 and later meetings bringing together leaders in the media, technology and telecoms industry, saying that after the data bill was passed by Congress, she committed to a series of roundtables in the creative industry to draft further AI integrations.
“We are determined to find ways to work for the creative industry, creators and the tech industry,” Nandi said.
