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NLJ this week: AI mining & the threat to creative industries

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06 June 2025
Issue: 8119 / Categories: Legal News , Artificial intelligence , Copyright , Intellectual property , Regulatory , Technology
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Web scraping and the illegal appropriation of copyrighted works is a difficult nut to crack. In this week’s NLJ, Paul Schwartfeger, barrister, 36 Stone, looks at the applicable law, including caselaw on the topic and the ongoing Getty case

A government consultation is currently underway, proposing artificial intelligence (AI) companies be allowed to mine publicly available content for commercial training purposes, unless rights holders expressly opt out.

As Schwartfeger writes, however, the opt out proposal ‘risks creating a system where a reproduction is lawful when executed by a machine but unlawful when done by a human’.

Moreover, both sides are wary—creatives fear their livelihoods will be threatened, while AI developers say the proposals are technically unworkable. Schwartfeger considers how the gap might be bridged. He recommends ‘targeted legal reform and clear regulatory guidance’. 
Issue: 8119 / Categories: Legal News , Artificial intelligence , Copyright , Intellectual property , Regulatory , Technology
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