Section 1
Our last NUJ all-members’ survey revealed that only 6% of respondents are confident that journalists will be paid for their content as AI technology advances and 88% are concerned about breaches to copyright resulting from AI. The NUJ has been campaigning for regulatory oversight that ensures developers are held accountable for their unlawful scraping of journalistic content.
Many members sign up to Authors' Licensing & Collecting Society (ALCS) and Design & Artists Copyright Society (DACS), who distribute money from collective licensing schemes relating to the photocopying and scanning of books, journals and magazines. But there is no equivalent mechanism for secondary digital use of work in news publications. Secondary digital use is where work is used outside of the intended purpose of the original licence for works that are online. This does not include straightforward copyright infringements that can be traced, but could include use of online works for training AI.
SCOOP has been established by ALCS, DACS, NUJ and Picture Industry Collecting Society for Effective Licensing (PICSEL) to give freelance journalists a collective voice within current debates around secondary digital uses of news content and to provide a mechanism to secure and distribute remuneration from this usage. The initiative relates to secondary digital use, such as where a work has been used without consent to prompt or train AI systems. SCOOP will not replace your ability to seek redress for copyright infringements.
We know that creators’ works have been used to train AI, mostly without consent, and the NUJ continues to strongly condemn the practice. Some agencies and publishers are developing their own contracts with contributors regarding the use of their work for training AI. However, there is no current mechanism for freelances to seek compensation or arrange licensing for AI-related use of their work.
The NUJ is seeking freelance members’ views on how we should protect their rights and whether to seek compensation for secondary forms of digital use, outside of individual agreements or contracts that cover your work. This will inform our involvement with SCOOP.
This survey is aimed at current or former freelances. It will take about 5 minutes to complete.