Our response to the UK’s copyright consultation

Source: OpenAI Date: 2025-04-02 URL: https://openai.com/global-affairs/response-to-uk-copyright-consultation

Summary

Summary

OpenAI submitted a formal response to the UK government’s copyright consultation in April 2025, arguing for a broad fair use or text-and-data mining exception that would allow AI training on copyrighted content without per-work licensing. The response positioned OpenAI’s training data needs within a framework of national competitiveness — arguing that overly restrictive copyright rules would disadvantage UK AI development.

Implications

Policy/legal thread. The UK copyright consultation was a live regulatory process with direct implications for AI training data, and OpenAI’s response is a lobbying document as much as a legal argument. The national competitiveness framing — “restrictive rules hurt UK AI” — became a common industry argument in copyright debates across jurisdictions. The timing reflects the UK government’s post-Brexit positioning on AI regulation: more permissive than the EU, competitive with the US, trying to attract AI investment and talent. OpenAI’s active participation in the UK consultation also reflects its deeper engagement with UK policy (London office, government partnerships) compared to its initially more distant EU engagement.