AI ingestion or indigestion?

• This article considers the law in relation to web scraping and the illegal appropriation of copyrighted works, with reference to precedents and the ongoing Getty case.
• It explains that bridging the gap between law and technological practice will need targeted legal reform and clear regulatory guidance.

In December 2024, the UK government launched a consultation proposing reforms that would help it deliver a copyright framework that ‘rewards human creativity, incentivises innovation and provides the legal certainty required for long-term growth in both sectors’. Among other measures, it proposed allowing artificial intelligence (AI) companies to mine publicly available content for commercial training purposes, unless rights holders expressly opted out. While echoing abandoned 2022 proposals, the suggested reforms mark a substantial departure from the traditional framework of UK copyright law, which has long emphasised authorial control and consent.

The government’s suggestions, however, have drawn criticism from both the sectors it seeks