EMMA ENPA Press release on Artificial Intelligence Act

Agreement on the Artificial Intelligence Act: European press publishers regret a disappointing result of the trilogue negotiations

AI technologies hold great promise. They significantly impact how press publishers’ content is created, distributed and consumed. Yet, they also have key implications for the IP rights of content creators, including press publishers, raising concerns about the use of copyrighted material without proper authorisation or licensing.

At a time when many unanswered questions about the impact of AI systems remain, notably Generative AI systems, the importance of ensuring basic transparency and documentation on the training or input data fed into these systems cannot be overstated. We deem it regrettable for the EU, in its aim to set global standards, to fall short of this very basic safeguard.

European press publishers represented by EMMA and ENPA would have hoped for more ambitious, comprehensive rules on transparency. Only clarity as to all sources used by the systems would have ensured a meaningful information on whether and how media and creative content have been used.

Given the doubts about the agreed transparency obligations, EMMA and ENPA believe that improvements need to be made without further delay, in particular by introducing a general and comprehensive documentation requirement.

Mike Koedinger, president of EMMA, said: “A thorough transparency obligation does not represent an obstacle to innovation, nor would it place disproportionate burdens or costs on the development of systems.  We know from experience that good technical solutions exist.”

Jean-Pierre de Kerraoul, president of ENPA, said: “We are convinced that the development of a European AI industry must go hand in hand with the development of creative talent. It is the meeting of and technological innovations that will open up the potential for growth. The transparency of the systems is only one of the necessary prerequisites.”