A new report aims to provide both creative industries and artificial intelligence developers with a framework to better navigate challenges around content usage, rights, and remuneration in the age of GenAI.

The report was produced by the CoSTAR National R&D Lab, which is the UK’s first national lab for creative industries research and development, and is made up of academic and industry partners including Scotland’s Abertay University.

DECaDE—the Centre for the Decentralised Economy—media and technology law firm Sheridans, and over 20 leading creative rights holders and AI developers were also involved with the creation of the report, titled Time to ACCCT: Providing Creative Industries and AI Developers with a Copyright Framework of Access, Control, Consent, Compensation, and Transparency.

As GenAI continues to transmogrify the creative industries globally, the framework offers practical, technical, and rights-respecting guidance towards developing a fair and ethical future system for the use of published creative work.

In particular, the new framework proposes a machine-readable, publicly-accessible approach that allows copyright holders to specify whether they consent or not to protect their work from data and text mining. It also provides a legal pathway for AI companies to access data responsibly, balancing innovation alongside rights protections.

The report additionally maps out key components that are required to create this new balance between rights holders and AI aggregators, including tools, control mechanisms, attribution, standards, and regulation. It offers a roadmap of what technologies are available today, what might be available tomorrow, and what lies further ahead.

The report comes amid continued legal and ethical concerns around the use of copyrighted materials in GenAI, with artists, musicians, authors, and other creatives rallying against a proposed “opt out” approach to text and data mining. However, at the same time, to encourage AI developers to base and grow their businesses in the UK, developers are seeking clearer, more consistent guidance and tools for lawful, responsible data usage.

The ACCCT framework points to a route out of what’s been described as an “impasse” by looking at the technological, trust, and legal framework that would be required to create shared interests and retain continuity with three centuries of copyright protection.

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In response to it, Sir Peter Bazalgette, who currently serves as co-chair of the Creative Industries Council, said: “This report provides tangible and achievable steps forward in making the UK creative industries not just fit for the age of GenAI, but a world-leader where AI developers and creative rights holders want to base their business.”

The CEO of technology-led production company Deep Fusion Films, Benjamin Field, also remarked: “The report is a vital step towards ensuring that human creativity isn’t sidelined by AI, but strengthened through it.

“It’s grounded in the realities of the creative industries—economically, technically and artistically—and outlines a clear, practical pathway to a fairer ecosystem. I’m proud to have contributed to a framework that puts creators at the centre of the conversation and offers a vision where innovation and authorship can thrive together.”

The full report can be found here.