Put simply, the Government says it aims to:

• force AI developers to be open about whether they're using your work;

• give people control over whether their work is used, and make it easy to be paid;

• ensure that AI innovation can flourish in the UK (ie, by not creating such a strict set of rules that AI companies can’t or won't operate here).

How might AI affect film and TV crew?

There are two main fears among crew. Firstly, that their own creative work will be used to train AI models, effectively copying their work without their knowledge, consent or payment. Secondly, that AI will eventually take their jobs. 

In the consultation documents, the Government accepts that AI is here to stay and that it is going to radically reshape the creative industries.

The consultation aims to create clear rules within which AI developers can thrive, while supporting creators, giving them an easy way of opting in or out of allowing their work to be used to train AI.

Will AI companies be able to use the work you did on a film or TV production? 

Lots of crew are outraged at the idea that an AI company might be able to freely use the designs that they created for a film or TV show. The consultation does offer some indication that work wouldn’t be used without consent.

The Government’s favoured route forward would mean that the copyright holder will be able to grant or deny AI developers the right to use their work. However, crew members rarely own the copyright for their film and TV work, and it is usually retained by the Producer, studio or production company. This would mean that the studios, not the crew member, would be in the position to grant any consent. 

Additionally, this consultation is about AI and copyright law in the UK. What it can't control is the threat that AI developers will simply move to a country where looser rules exist and data-mine to their hearts’ content.

Separately, some companies may be able to get round the copyright restriction altogether. There is a growing number of AI tools owned by big companies with film and TV connections. One obvious example is Amazon Rekognition, which uses algorithms trained on data collected by Amazon or its partners.

If you're working on an Amazon production, then Amazon will likely own the copyright to your work for the production, so in theory Amazon could use its own AI to access your work without having to tell anyone.

This may sound worrying, but it's worth bearing in mind that currently, the studios already own huge amounts of assets and back catalogues of work that has been produced. However, anyone who has worked on a sequel with be aware of the pain involved in digging through the physical and digital archives to find previous assets and make use of them. The whole system will have to be streamlined extensively before jobs can be cut out and crew will still be needed to make sense of it all.  

So this is not putting the genie back in the bottle? 

No - the Government wants to facilitate the continued development of AI in the UK. The good news is that the Government does appear to be keen to protect creators’ rights. At the very least it is trying to force AI companies to respect the UK’s existing copyright laws. 

So much AI data-mining has already taken place that there’s no mention of a retrospective rule. Despite the level of anger among many authors, composers, illustrators, artists and other creatives, nobody’s expecting AI companies to start again. What all Governments are trying to do around the world is hurriedly create a broad set of parameters governing the path ahead - where creators and AI developers can co-exist and even “trust” each other.

If you have your own work on the internet somewhere, for example in a portfolio, would you be able to opt out of data-mining?

Yes, that’s the Government’s favoured way forward, although the answer to ‘how would you opt out?’ is not 100% clear right now (more below). 

How about if your own work is on a social media site?

For many crew, the question will be, could an Instagram page showing your own creative work be data-mined? The answer is already ‘yes’. Meta announced it would be doing this on Instagram and Facebook in June 2024, in order to train its own AI models. On Meta’s platforms, users can opt out of their images being used to train AI, but the ‘awkwardness’ of doing this has been criticised. This BBC have an article about this here. The link to 'object to Meta using your information for AI' is here. 

What about the benefits of AI?

Many crew see benefits in how AI can be used - mainly to save time. However some studios strictly ban the use of AI by Art Dept crew, for fear of the AI companies claiming royalties at a later date and claim ownership of design. The consultation seeks to clarify the rules on both sides - for the AI companies and the copyright holders - so the consultation could pave the way for crew to be able to use AI, if they wanted to, as part of their own creative process on a production.

When would the new rules happen?

The new measures, whatever they end up being, “could come into operation when effective, proportionate, and accessible technological solutions [are] in place”.

Should crew take part in the consultation?

The Government invites “anyone with an interest in these issues to share their views and provide evidence regarding the economic impact of these proposals”.

You can choose your favoured option, out of the Government’s suggestions. It's pretty obvious that its own favourite, option 3, given the snappy title 'Option 3: A data mining exception which allows right holders to reserve their rights, underpinned by supporting measures on transparency' , would be the best for crew.

It would come with complications, however, some of which have become clear after the EU introduced a similar measure. If you scroll down on the consultation document (linked above - Option 3), these are explained.

The Government also poses further questions that you can give answers to.

What else can I do to ensure my voice is heard?

If you're responding to the consultation, you can also make the point that for many crew, having a secondary income through selling art, prints, images, designs, models and other creations - all of which need to be displayed online for sales - is a necessary part of sustaining a freelance career in the fluctuating film and TV industry.

Separately, you can contact your local MP to make sure crew concerns are heard. The AI debate includes many voices - it’s important that we make clear how it affects film and TV crew, particularly while this consultation is open.

The Government won’t need reminding how much the film industry is worth to the economy. The highly skilled crew here is one big reason why film-makers keep coming back to the UK - so it’s vital that freelance crew are protected from potential loss of income.

How do I respond?

The consultation opened on 17 December 2024 and will close at midnight on 25 February 2025. 

You can read the whole thing here: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/copyright-and-artificial-intelligence

You can respond via Citizen Space.

You can also send responses to copyrightconsultation@ipo.gov.uk 

The Government has some guidance on providing evidence for policy making when drafting your response.

You can contact your local MP via https://www.writetothem.com

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