CISAC’s Post

Last week I had the great honour of delivering the 2024 Sir Hugh Laddie Lecture at UCL, on the intersection between Artificial Intelligence and collective management of rights. I reviewed different AI tools and explained how the creative industries react to this new technology, and what are the main challenges faced by Collective Management Organisations in licensing AI platforms. The legal regulation around AI is evolving and different jurisdictions adopt different approaches to key issues such as transparency and disclosure obligations, exceptions for Text and Data Mining and opt-outs by rightsholders, making it even more difficult to navigate this landscape. I descirbed the actions taken by CISAC authors societies so far, and the questions around the legal status of works created by AI and the ability to collectively manage them. It was also an oppurtunity to share my own views about where the industry is going and how rights management entities can adjust to the new market reality. While changes are no doubt on the horizon, the benefits of licensing AI collectively and the economies of scale inherent in the collective management system make it the best place to address AI. Authors socieites will naturally need to adjust, but they have done so succesfully in the past with the inventions of broadcasting, recording, home taping and most recently, digitization and interactive online use. AI is huge and will transform our lives, but when it comes to creators' rights and royalties, it's no different from previous technologcial revolutions that challenged existing remuneration models. Our key goal has always been - and will remain - ensuring that human creators can make a living from their art and continue contributing to our culture. This will be achieved by a combination of effective legal rights, transparency obligations for AI, accountability and respect for creators' rights and interests. Many thanks to the many friends and colleagues who turned up and to the large audience who joined at the lecture hall and online. If you've missed it and would like to catch up, the recording is here: