May 22, 2025
(Publisher's Weekly)
–
On Tuesday, the
European Parliament
hosted representatives from the books, film, and music industries and related creative sectors for a meeting to discuss the implementation of the EU AI Act. The meeting was part of the "Stay True to the Act, Stay True to Culture" campaign, which advocates for transparency, consent, and fair compensation for creators whose work is used in AI development.
The event, hosted by Italian MEP Brando Benifei and Irish MEP Michael McNamara, included statements from two members of the
Federation of European Publishers
: Anne-Sylvie Bameule, managing director of French publishing house
Actes Sud
; and
Jesús Badenes del Río
, CEO of
Planeta Books
from
Spain
.
"Fake AI transparency as currently proposed by the
European Commission
will enable AI companies to keep stealing millions of books in full impunity," Bameule said. "The book market is already flooded with fake books that not only threaten the biggest European cultural sector but can also endanger consumers. The European legislator clearly said 'no more'; it's time for the Commission to do what the law says."
Emphasizing the importance of copyright protection, Badenes added that "full enforcement of copyright legal framework and development of AI models should not be seen as conflicting objectives. Respect for creativity requires strong and full transparency requirements about all works used for generative AI models."
Speakers at the meeting highlighted the growing concern over protecting the value of copyright across industries as many tech companies continue to train their AI models on copyrighted materials without permissions. They maintained that AI integration into creative sectors can proceed successfully if proper protections are in place for the human creators whose work powers these technologies.
"We must never be seduced by the false idea that, in the headlong rush to the new AI world, creators' interests must be cast aside," said
Björn Ulvaeus
, cofounder of the Swedish pop group ABBA. Belgian media executive
Christian van Thillo
, executive chairman of
DPG Media
, added: "Big tech built empires by ignoring copyright and privacy rules, and today they're doing the same with AI. Without compliance with the AI Act and rigorous enforcement, European culture and democracy will pay the price."
The
May 20
event comes amid increasing pressure on the
European Parliament
from the creative industries across
Europe
to defend copyright amid the AI surge. Earlier this week, the Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels,
Germany's
publisher and bookseller association, announced that the German initiative Creators for Europe United had reached its goal of acquiring 10,000 signatures on an open letter to Henna Virkkunen, the
European Commission's
executive VP for technological sovereignty, security, and democracy.
The letter has four demands: "full transparency about all works, contributions, and performances that have been and will be used for training generative AI models and other purposes; adequate remuneration for the use of our works; consistent enforcement of applicable copyright laws-including against global tech companies; and involvement of the culture, creative, and media industries in all regulatory processes for AI governance."
The letter was first announced on World Book and Copyright Day, April 23. "Our ideas, voices, images, songs and stories are the heart of
Europe
. Without our creativity, AI systems would be empty and meaningless," the letter reads in part, adding that "the main beneficiaries will be non-European tech companies that can continue to exploit European works."
It continues: "Artificial intelligence relies on our creative content to function at all. Without it, AI is blind, empty and speechless. At present, it is exclusively the developers of the models who benefit, while creators and rights holders are being expropriated." Furthermore, "AI can be a driver of progress--but only if it is built on solid legal and ethical foundations. If
Europe
loses its creatives, it will not only lose its cultural identity but also one of its strongest economic sectors. To sacrifice this potential means to jeopardize
Europe's
future."
The European protests coincide with developments in the
United Kingdom
, where last week, on
May 12
, the
House of Lords
supported an amendment to the "Data Bill" requiring AI companies to specify which works they have used in training large language models. The amendment must now return to the
House of Commons
for further consideration.
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