The Government’s long-awaited report on copyright and AI was published yesterday (18 March 2026), alongside an impact assessment.
Sections of the report signal a win for UK creators and the creative industries, for trade unions including WGGB and for all those who have campaigned and lobbied hard on this issue over the past year.
The report, a response to the Government’s consultation on copyright and AI, has rowed back from a copyright exception in which rightsholders would have to opt-out of their work being used to train Large Language Models. This had been the Government’s controversial preferred option when it first launched the consultation in December 2024, causing a massive outcry which united the creative industries and led to sustained campaigning.
Over 11,000 responses were submitted to the consultation, with a large number of WGGB members making their views heard. An overwhelming 88% of responses to the consultation expressed support for option 1 (the option that WGGB supports), which requires copyright licences in all cases.
Members also took part in protests, and we stepped up our lobbying and campaigning work, including as part of the Creative Rights in AI Coalition and the #MakeItFair campaign. We also took part in the Government’s expert working groups on copyright and AI to ensure the voice of UK writers were heard.
As well as the report and impact assessment published yesterday, in a statement to the House, Liz Kendall (Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology) outlined the Government’s next steps on copyright and AI, themed around four key strands: ‘Digital replicas’, ‘Labelling AI-generated content’, ‘Creator control and transparency’ and ‘Independent creatives’. The latter will see the launch of a working group on independent and smaller creative organisations to explore whether there is a role for Government to support their ability to license their content.
WGGB General Secretary Ellie Peers said:
“Copyright and AI is an issue of huge importance to our members who have seen the industrial-scale theft of their work to train Large Language Models. We therefore welcome the fact that the Government has rowed back on its original preferred ‘opt-out’ copyright exception model, and listened to the voices of thousands of creators, including many of our members. This is a win for collective action.
“The UK has a robust copyright system in place and yet we know that it is being flouted by Big Tech. Transparency measures are vital to enforce existing legal protections, and we welcome the Government’s recognition of this.
“It is reassuring to hear the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology say that the Government will help creatives (including independent and smaller creative organisations) control how their work is used and to ensure that they will be paid fairly, and that the Government’s four-strand work programme includes ‘Creator control and transparency’ and ‘Independent creatives’.
“Yesterday’s announcement is a step in the right direction on the road to a fair system that will protect and reward writers and other creators in an age of Artificial Intelligence, but there is much work that still needs to be done to strengthen not weaken UK copyright law and writers need certainty around protection of their work as a matter of urgency.
“We are pleased to see a commitment from the Government to further research, monitoring and engagement to get this right, and we will continue to play an active role in this.”
Find out more about our campaigning work on copyright and AI here.