🧠 Food for thought

Implications, context, and why it matters.

UK copyright review raises short-term legal risk for AI firms

• UK law bars unauthorised copying of protected works to train commercial models, so developers may need permission from each rightsholder, which is hard given fragmented rights and identification hurdles 1.
• The December 2024 consultation proposes a machine-readable rights reservation so creators can set terms or opt out. An exception would let developers use material at scale where no reservation applies, but delivery needs technical standards and industry-wide work that do not yet exist 2.
• The EU uses an opt-out model, while US fair use remains uncertain in court 1. The UK regime stays unsettled, so firms should plan for licences and risk mitigation, with reports due through 2026 1.

Public sector AI buying pushes demand for transparency and provenance tools

• The Crown Commercial Service (CCS) extended its AI Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS) to February 2029 3. The framework spans services, including licensing, customization, and support.
• Procurement Policy Note (PPN) 017, issued in February 2025, asks buyers for supplier declarations on artificial intelligence use in service delivery 4. A buyer of video conferencing with AI transcription will want terms that bar training on user data unless specifically agreed 4.
• Campaigners push pauses on deals and call for training data disclosure. Vendors building provenance tools, training data disclosure systems and licensing infrastructure can target buyers through CCS, while transparency on use of creative works to train models 2 could make machine-readable rights reservations plus crawler identification routine asks 2.