As of this week, the EU AI Act is the world-first body of law that regulates the development and use of AI, and sets an example for responsible governance. In a joint statement published on 13 March, a number of organisations active in the cultural and creative industries welcomed the approval of the act.

“We thank Members of the European Parliament for the essential role they have played in supporting creators and rightsholders throughout the legislative process,” they state. “We represent a broad coalition of organisations in Europe’s creative and cultural sectors, including music, visual, audiovisual and literary authors; press publishers of newspapers, magazines and specialised publications; book, music and academic publishers; recorded music, film and audiovisual producers; publishers of films and audiovisual content online and offline; distributors and photo agencies.”

The signatories argue that the provision offers the “first tools for rightsholders to enforce their rights, including the obligations on providers of general-purpose AI (GPAI) to make available a sufficiently detailed summary of the works used for training their models, to retain detailed technical documentation and to demonstrate they have put in place policies to comply with EU copyright law, regardless of where they acquired data, or trained and developed their AI models.

“While these obligations provide a first step for rightsholders to enforce their rights, we call on the European Parliament to continue to support the development of responsible and sustainable AI by ensuring that these important rules are put into practice in a meaningful and effective way, aligned with the objectives of the regulation. To achieve this, it is essential that the template for the sufficient level of information that general-purpose AI model providers must make available enables effective exercise and enforcement of copyright and other fundamental rights, and that creative sectors and rightsholders are formally and directly involved in its drafting,” the statement concludes.

Some prominent signatories include the organisations SAA, CEPI, Eurocinema, FIAPF, GESAC, IVF, CISAC and CEPIC.

Click here to read the full statement and see the complete list of signatories.