Legal shenanigans is the theme for today’s set of stories. First up, we have prospective legislation—specifically, proposed UK legislation on AI. This is something I feel like I have been following for some time. Those who have been following along will know that the UK has tended, especially under the previous administration, to take a much more tech-friendly approach than elsewhere in Europe.
ALLi News Editor Dan Holloway
UK Rejects Copyright Transparency in AI Bill
The country’s legislation on AI is currently going through the process to get on the statute books. Last week, the UK’s upper chamber introduced changes to the bill that would have required transparency from tech firms that used copyrighted material to train AI. The change was backed by the Society of Editors and the Society of Authors, and championed in the chamber by celebrated filmmaker Beeban Kidron. The upper chamber passed the change, but the lower, elected chamber then removed it again.
The government says this is because the changes didn’t do what their authors wanted and that they have the interests of creatives at heart—really. Creatives and their representative organizations have not been convinced. In the meanwhile, the proposed legislation keeps the “opt out” principle at its heart. That is, firms would be able to use your copyrighted work unless you opted out—though how you would do so, and from what exactly, does not seem fully clear. The Society of Authors called the rejection “unjust.”
Epic vs. Apple Continues in Court
Meanwhile, following the Epic Games vs. Apple ruling, Apple seems to have stalled the readmission of Fortnite into the App Store, and Epic Games is taking them to court to try and force their hand. The ruling two weeks ago meant that Apple had to let apps in its App Store allow users to make purchases directly from the company owning the app rather than through Apple, stripping Apple of its 27 percent cut. As Spotify, Patreon, and Amazon have already jumped on the opportunity, it matters whether Apple can be made to play ball.
And finally, I don’t tend to publicize books—certainly not for tech billionaires. But I couldn’t help but notice that Sam Altman’s biography is about to launch, and I am already looking forward to scrolling Amazon with at least one eyebrow raised for the inevitable scraped knock-offs, while simultaneously scrolling OpenAI’s news feeds to see their reaction.
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