UK arts and media reject plan to let AI firms use copyrighted material

Exclusive: Coalition of musicians, photographers and newspapers insist existing copyright laws must be respected

Writers, publishers, musicians, photographers, movie producers and newspapers have rejected the Labour government's plan to create a copyright exemption to help artificial intelligence companies train their algorithms.

In a joint statement, bodies representing thousands of creatives dismissed the proposal made by ministers on Tuesday that would allow companies such as Open AI, Google and Meta to train their AI systems on published works unless their owners actively opt out.