Controversy over the copyright of artists, media and creators as a whole is caused by the rapid rise of Artificial Intelligence.

The issue has also reached the European Parliament, with members of the Legal Affairs Committee calling on the European Union to take protective measures, believing that creators should give their permission and be compensated for any use of their work.

Members of the Legal Affairs Committee of the European Parliament approved by a broad majority (17 in favour to 3 against) a report advocating better protection for copyright holders, due to the growing power of Artificial Intelligence tools.

Among other things, MEPs first and foremost want European copyright rules to apply to all AI tools available in Europe, in whichever country or countries they were built and trained. This means that AI services will clearly inform rights holders if they are using their own content and pay them “fair compensation“, otherwise they will be penalised.

They call for measures to protect media pluralism

MEPs also call on the European Commission and member states to take measures “to protect media pluralism, which is threatened by AI systems that selectively gather information by abusing their own internet traffic and revenues. This could be achieved by “adequate compensation” for them and “full control over the use of content” by the media in terms of AI training and data aggregation, including their right to refuse.

“Our goal is to support innovation by defending the fundamental principles of intellectual property,” stressed German People’s Party MEP Axel Foss, noting that “clear, enforceable rules are key to guaranteeing Europe’s technological dominance.”

The report will be submitted to the European Parliament plenary for a vote in March. The conditions under which major companies use available internet data – including that of the press – to feed and train their large AI models has become a contentious issue in the US and Europe. In 2024 the EU adopted a law requiring AI systems to comply with copyright law. But a European Parliament study released last year shows that it is uncertain whether this principle is respected and applied to the data and content used to train AI systems.