Is France giving up on protecting its creators from artificial intelligence (AI)? “Historically, this is the first time that France, where copyright was invented, has not defended intellectual property,” deplores Pascal Rogard, general director of the Society of Dramatic Authors and Composers (SACD). Worse, according to a note from the Federation of European Publishers, China has adopted a position more favorable to creators than that of France in its draft legislation on AI. “We are also being lectured by Great Britain and the United States, it’s the world turned upside down! “, adds Nathalie Chambaz, legal manager of the Permanent Council of Writers.
A text addressed on November 17 to the French government initialed by eighty key organizations in cinema, audiovisual, publishing, music, visual arts, photography, testifies to the exasperation of the world of culture vis-à-vis the French position defended at the European level in this issue. More precisely, this anger crystallizes on the question of the transparency of the training data used by generative intelligence models. A prerequisite and an absolute imperative for creators.
However, at a time when the European Commission, the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union (EU) are negotiating before a next meeting on December 6, as part of a “trilogue” around the EU position on AI, an unofficial document that Reuters obtained has ignited the powder. To avoid slowing down the innovation of this technology in Europe, France has rallied Germany and Italy to its cause on a text that is not very restrictive for AI suppliers, by not imposing on them, initially, no sanctions. And without forcing them to give the list of works used to train generative intelligence models either.
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A position set back from a copyright point of view compared to that of Parliament, which presented a law on AI in June. At the Ministry of Culture, we try to minimize the matter: “It is not an official document, it is already two weeks old and France’s position has not been decided. » The same source assures: “Discussions are continuing and the government does not wish to oppose transparency measures. At an interministerial meeting, we were asked to work on a text which ensures respect for intellectual property, according to ethical, loyal and transparent models. »
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