Key points
- The UK government formally dropped its preferred opt-out text and data mining exception in its statutory report on copyright and AI.
- The decision followed 11,520 consultation responses; the government will monitor industry-led licensing arrangements instead.
- No immediate legislative change was enacted; the report and impact assessment set the evidence base for future steps.
Summary
Published 18 March 2026 under the obligation created by the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025, this statutory report formally records the UK government's withdrawal of its previously preferred opt-out text and data mining (TDM) exception for AI training. Following 11,520 consultation responses, the government chose instead to monitor whether industry-led licensing arrangements develop. No immediate legislative change followed, but the report and its accompanying impact assessment now form the evidence base for future UK copyright and AI policy. For animation educators, the report shifts the UK training-data debate from a near-certain legislative change to an ongoing monitoring situation.
Implications for animation education
The withdrawal of the opt-out TDM exception means that the UK copyright position on AI training remains closer to the status quo: studios and developers using UK-based creative works for training purposes without explicit licensing may be exposed to infringement claims. For animation programs, this has two immediate implications. First, students and graduates entering the UK industry will work under a licensing-market model rather than a statutory exception, meaning that understanding licensing, rights clearance and provenance matters is a graduate competency, not a specialist one. Second, programs teaching AI tools that rely on training data should note that the lawfulness of that training data in the UK remains contested and unresolved, and should represent it as such in curricula.
Related items
- House of Lords report: AI, copyright and the creative industries
- European Parliament resolution on copyright and generative AI (TA-10-2026-0066)
- Getty Images (US) Inc v. Stability AI Ltd: UK High Court Judgment
Source
Source: UK Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) ↗ (Policy Text)
Primary document: assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/69ba692226909a14239612e4/CP2602959_-_Report_on_Copyright_and_Artificial_Intelligence_web.pdf ↗
Cite this item
UK Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) (2026). ‘UK Report on Copyright and Artificial Intelligence: government drops opt-out TDM exception’, UK Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT). Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/report-and-impact-assessment-on-copyright-and-artificial-intelligence/report-on-copyright-and-artificial-intelligence
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