UK kicks off review into training AI models on copyrighted content

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6 months ago

December 17, 2024

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On Dec. 9, OpenAI made its artificial intelligence video generation model Sora publicly available in the U.S. and other countries.

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The U.K. is drawing up measures to regulate the use of copyrighted content by tech companies to train their artificial intelligence models.

The British government on Tuesday kicked off a consultation which aims to increase clarity for both the creative industries and AI developers when it comes to both how intellectual property is obtained and then used by AI firms for training purposes.

Some artists and publishers are unhappy with the way their content is being scraped freely by companies like OpenAI and Google to train their large language models — AI models trained on huge quantities of data to generate humanlike responses.

Large language models are the foundational technology behind today’s generative AI systems, including the likes of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini and Anthropic’s Claude.

Last year, The New York Times brought a lawsuit against Microsoft and OpenAI accusing the companies of infringing its copyright and abusing intellectual property to train large language models.

In response, OpenAI disputed the NYT’s allegations, stating that the use of open web data for training AI models should be considered “fair use” and that it provides an “opt-out” for rights holders “because it’s the right thing to do.”

Separately, image distribution platform Getty Images sued another generative AI firm, Stability AI, in the U.K., accusing it of scraping millions of images from its websites without consent to train its Stable Diffusion AI model. Stability AI has disputed the suit, noting that the training and development of its model took place outside the U.K.

Proposals to be considered

First, the consultation will consider making an exception to copyright law for AI training when used in the context of commercial purposes but while still allowing rights holders to reserve their rights so they can control the use of their content.

Second, the consultation will put forward proposed measures to help creators license and be remunerated for the use of their content by AI model makers, as well as give AI developers clarity over what material can be used for training their models.

The government said more work needs to be done by both the creative industries and technology firms to ensure any standards and requirements for rights reservation and transparency are effective, accessible and widely adopted.

The government is also considering proposals that would require AI model makers to be more transparent about their model training datasets and how they’re obtained so that rights holders can understand when and how their content has been used to train AI.

That could prove controversial — technology firms aren’t especially forthcoming when it comes to the data that fuels their coveted algorithms or how they train them up, given the commercial sensitivities involved in revealing those secrets to potential competitors.

Previously, under former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, the government attempted to agree a voluntary AI copyright code of practice.

AI copyright rules: U.K. versus U.S.

In a recent interview with CNBC, the boss of app development software firm Appian said he thinks the U.K. is well placed to be the “global leader on this issue.”

“The U.K. has put a stake in the ground declaring its prioritization of personal intellectual property rights,” Matt Calkins, Appian’s CEO, told CNBC. He cited 2018’s Data Protection Act as an example of how the U.K. is “closely associated with intellectual property rights.”

The U.K. is also not “subject to the same overwhelming lobbying blitz from domestic AI leaders that the U.S. is,” Calkins added — meaning it might not be as prone to bowing down to pressure from tech giants as politicians stateside.

“In the U.S., anybody who writes a law about AI is going to hear from Amazon, Oracle, Microsoft or Google before that bill even reaches the floor,” Calkins said.

“That’s a powerful force stopping anyone from writing sensible legislation or protecting the rights of individuals whose intellectual property is being taken wholesale by these major AI players.”

The issue of potential copyright infringement by AI firms is becoming more notable as tech firms are moving toward a more “multimodal” form of AI — that is, AI systems that can understand and generate content in the form of images and video as well as text.

Last week, OpenAI made its AI video generation model Sora publicly available in the U.S. and “most countries internationally.” The tool allows a user to type out a desired scene and produce a high-definition video clip.

Technology

Amazon extends Prime Day to four days, starting July 8

Published

5 hours ago

June 17, 2025

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Amazon extends Prime Day to four days, starting July 8

An Amazon worker moves boxes on Amazon Prime Day in the East Village of New York City, July 11, 2023.

Spencer Platt | Getty Images

Amazon is extending its Prime Day discount bonanza, announcing that the annual sale will run four days this year.

The 96-hour event will start at 12:01 a.m. PT on July 8, and continue through July 11, Amazon said in a release.

For the first time, the company will roll out themed “deal drops” that change daily and are available “while supplies last.” Amazon has in recent years toyed with adding more limited-run and invite-only deals during Prime Day events to create a feeling of urgency or scarcity.

Amazon launched Prime Day in 2015 as a way to secure new members for its $139-a-year loyalty program, and to promote its own products and services while providing a sales boost in the middle of the year. In 2019, the company made Prime Day a 48-hour event, and it’s since added a second Prime Day-like event in the fall.

Prime Day is also a significant revenue driver for other retailers, which often host competing discount events.

WATCH: How Amazon is using AI to revolutionize robotics

Technology

SK Hynix shares extend gains to over 2-decade highs as parent group reportedly plans AI data center

Published

8 hours ago

June 17, 2025

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SK Hynix shares extend gains to over 2-decade highs as parent group reportedly plans AI data center

Illustration of the SK Hynix company logo seen displayed on a smartphone screen.

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Shares in South Korea’s SK Hynix extended gains to hit a more than 2-decade high on Tuesday, following reports over the weekend that SK Group plans to build the country’s largest AI data center.

SK Hynix shares, which have surged almost 50% so far this year on the back of an AI boom, were up nearly 3%, following gains on Monday.

The company’s parent, SK Group, plans to build the AI data center in partnership with Amazon Web Services in Ulsan, according to domestic media. SK Telecom and SK Broadband are reportedly leading the initiative, with support from other affiliates, including SK Hynix.

SK Hynix is a leading supplier of dynamic random access memory or DRAM — a type of semiconductor memory found in PCs, workstations and servers that is used to store data and program code.

The company’s DRAM rival, Samsung, was also trading up 4% on Tuesday. However, it’s growth has fallen behind that of SK Hynix.

On Friday, Samsung Electronics’ market cap reportedly slid to a 9-year low of 345.1 trillion won ($252 billion) as the chipmaker struggles to capitalize on AI-led demand.

SK Hynix, on the other hand, has become a leader in high bandwidth memory — a type of DRAM used in artificial intelligence servers — supplying to clients such as AI behemoth Nvidia.

A report from Counterpoint Research in April said that SK Hynix had captured 70% of the HBM market by revenue share in the first quarter.

This HBM strength helped it overtake Samsung in the overall DRAM market for the first time ever, with a 36% global market share as compared to Samsung’s 34%.

Technology

OpenAI wins $200 million U.S. defense contract

Published

12 hours ago

June 16, 2025

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OpenAI wins 0 million U.S. defense contract

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman speaks during the Snowflake Summit in San Francisco on June 2, 2025.

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OpenAI has been awarded a $200 million contract to provide the U.S. Defense Department with artificial intelligence tools.

The department announced the one-year contract on Monday, months after OpenAI said it would collaborate with defense technology startup Anduril to deploy advanced AI systems for “national security missions.”

“Under this award, the performer will develop prototype frontier AI capabilities to address critical national security challenges in both warfighting and enterprise domains,” the Defense Department said. It’s the first contract with OpenAI listed on the Department of Defense’s website.

Anduril received a $100 million defense contract in December. Weeks earlier, OpenAI rival Anthropic said it would work with Palantir and Amazon to supply its AI models to U.S. defense and intelligence agencies.

Sam Altman, OpenAI’s co-founder and CEO, said in a discussion with OpenAI board member and former National Security Agency leader Paul Nakasone at a Vanderbilt University event in April that “we have to and are proud to and really want to engage in national security areas.”

OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Defense Department specified that the contract is with OpenAI Public Sector LLC, and that the work will mostly occur in the National Capital Region, which encompasses Washington, D.C., and several nearby counties in Maryland and Virginia.

Meanwhile, OpenAI is working to build additional computing power in the U.S. In January, Altman appeared alongside President Donald Trump at the White House to announce the $500 billion Stargate project to build AI infrastructure in the U.S.

The new contract will represent a small portion of revenue at OpenAI, which is generating over $10 billion in annualized sales. In March, the company announced a $40 billion financing round at a $300 billion valuation.

In April, Microsoft, which supplies cloud infrastructure to OpenAI, said the U.S. Defense Information Systems Agency has authorized the use of the Azure OpenAI service with secret classified information.

WATCH: OpenAI hits $10 billion in annual recurring revenue