UK DSIT Publishes AI and Copyright Consultation Response, UK, March 2026

On March 19, 2026, the UK Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) published an update to its ongoing consultation on Copyright and Artificial Intelligence, launched in December 2024. The March 2026 document sets out the Government's assessment of responses received and presents a preferred policy position on three issues: the application of the text and data mining (TDM) copyright exception to AI training, transparency obligations on AI developers regarding training data, and the use of technical standards for rights reservation. The consultation page was updated on 19 March 2026 and the document confirms that the UK Government intends to legislate to address these matters.

The consultation document engages with the existing TDM exception in section 29A of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended by the Copyright and Rights in Performances (Research, Education, Libraries and Archives) Regulations 2014. The current section 29A exception permits TDM only for non-commercial research purposes. DSIT's preferred position is to extend the exception to commercial AI training uses, subject to a rights-reservation mechanism that would permit rights holders to opt out by applying a machine-readable signal. The document does not propose to eliminate the existing commercial TDM opt-out framework entirely; rather, it would require that any opt-out be technically standardised and machine-readable.

AI developers training models on UK-resident content must currently comply with the existing section 29A non-commercial TDM exception or secure licensing from rights holders for commercial uses. Until Parliament enacts the proposed legislative changes, the existing law applies. Rights holders who wish to prevent commercial AI training use of their content may deploy opt-out signals consistent with existing technical standards, such as the robots.txt protocol, though the legal weight of such signals under current UK law remains contested. Once enacted, the legislation will require AI developers to honour machine-readable rights reservations.

The transparency obligation proposed in the document would require AI developers to disclose what copyright-protected material was used to train models made available in the UK. The specific form of that disclosure — whether published, available on request, or submitted to a regulatory authority — has not yet been determined. The document does not address the retrospective treatment of models already trained on copyright-protected material before any legislation takes effect. No draft Bill has been published as of the consultation update date.

Prokopiev Law Group advises AI developers, technology companies, media organisations, and rights holders on UK AI copyright compliance, TDM licensing, AI training data governance, and regulatory monitoring. The firm maintains a dedicated partner network for UK copyright licensing, AI training data audit, rights-reservation implementation, and AI governance program design — areas encompassing AI intellectual property law, copyright exceptions, data licensing, and technology regulatory compliance.

Source: UK Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), "Copyright and Artificial Intelligence," consultation page, last updated 19 March 2026. Official URL: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/copyright-and-artificial-intelligence. Confirmed April 2, 2026.

The information provided is not legal, tax, investment, or accounting advice and should not be used as such. It is for discussion purposes only. Seek guidance from your own legal counsel and advisors on any matters. The views presented are those of the author and not any other individual or organization. Some parts of the text may be automatically generated. The author of this material makes no guarantees or warranties about the accuracy or completeness of the information.