AI has to work for Everyone - not just Big Tech #StayTrueToTheAct
- EPC
- May 21
- 4 min read
EUROPE’S CREATIVITY, CULTURE AND DEMOCRACY ARE AT STAKE IF POLICY MAKERS DON’T TAKE ACTION NOW
Transparency - Consent - Remuneration
This week in Brussels, EPC’s Chairman Christian van Thillo had the privilege of sharing a platform with distinguished voices from Europe’s creative industries: Björn Ulvaeus, Co-founder of ABBA and President of CISAC; Anne-Sylvie Bameule, Présidente du groupe Actes Sud; Jesús Badenes del Río, CEO, Planeta Group’s Books Division and Olivier Nusse, CEO, Universal Music France & Universal Music Africa. Together, we represent the diverse sectors being reshaped by generative AI - and the shared urgency of defending the value of original, human creativity.
We are calling for the Code of Practice, that will inform the implementation of the EU AI Act, to guarantee that all AI actors respect legal requirements for transparency, consent and remuneration when accessing and using rightsholders’ content. We are calling on policymakers to recognise what is at stake if they allow Big Tech to ride roughshod over centuries of IP and copyright that have fuelled Europe’s lifeblood of creativity, culture, democracy and economy. Press release from the event.
Christian spoke up for Europe’s press publishers -those who invest in professional journalism to deliver trusted information every day to millions of citizens. Publishers have embraced AI to support their editorial mission. But what we face today with some Generative AI tools now also embedded in big tech companies which already wield gatekeeper status, is not just another wave of innovation -it’s a fundamental threat to our sustainability, our integrity, and our ability to serve democracy through editorial media.
“At DPG, our success comes from investing in people—in our journalists, editors, technologists. We don’t just publish ‘content’, this is journalism and we stand behind it. We take full editorial responsibility, full legal liability—and we’ll defend our journalists in court if we have to. That’s our standard. It’s time AI companies respect that investment and come to the table to negotiate how they would like to use our content. If AI-generated content becomes the dominant information layer, as a society we lose something irreplaceable: trust, truth, and transparency.
Theft of Copyrighted Content by AI Developers – Uncompensated and Unregulated
Let’s be clear: our content—paid for through huge editorial investments—is being ingested by AI systems without our consent and without compensation. This is not innovation; it is copyright theft.
We urgently need enforcement of existing EU copyright law, the AI Act, and the DMA. These must compel AI developers and platforms to be transparent about what content they use - or want to use - and negotiate fair licences. They must respect OUR rights reservations and stop peddling the myth that robots.txt works. And a sufficiently detailed summary of the content they take is not optional—it is a legal necessity in order for publishers to enforce their rights.
Responsible Crawling: New Standards Needed – Now
AI systems don’t just scrape our articles—they also capture our website layouts, our user activity, and data that is critical to our advertising models. All this happens without permission, by millions of bots and crawlers.
We are calling for a new framework for Responsible Crawling. This must include:
• Transparency about who is crawling and why
• Respect for rights reservations
Without this, AI continues to operate in a legal grey zone at publishers' expense.
Generative AI Undermines Journalism – Without Any Accountability
AI-generated content floods the market with synthetic articles built from our journalism. Search engines like Google’s and chatbots like ChatGPT, increasingly serve AI summaries which is wiping out the traffic we rely on, especially from dominant players.
These tools don’t create journalism. They don’t do fact-checking, hold power to account, or verify sources. They operate with no editorial standards, no legal liability—and no investment in the public interest. And yet, without urgent action, there is a danger they will replace us in the digital experience. That’s not sustainable. That’s not fair competition. And it’s certainly not democratic.
What AI Can’t Do – And Why Journalism Must Be Protected
Let me remind you what AI cannot replace:
• Original reporting from conflict zones
• Investigations that expose corruption
• Human insight and ethical judgment
• Authentic community engagement, especially in times of crisis and elections
Journalism is about people, not just data. Publishers are accountable. Editors are liable. If AI-generated content becomes the dominant information layer, without regulation, we lose something irreplaceable: trust, truth, and transparency.
A 3-Pillar Model for the Future – and Why Licensing is Essential
Publishers have three revenue pillars:
Subscriptions—now under pressure from free AI summaries
Advertising—declining in a distorted market dominated by Google and Meta
And the third pillar, which must now grow: licensing
If AI becomes the new distribution method, we need licensing for AI training and outputs—just as it exists in other creative sectors.
Everyone agrees innovation must be paid for. But that goes both ways. Our content cannot be just the free of charge raw material of AI. Digital theft has consequences.
A Call to Action – Enforce the Law, Protect Journalism
Europe has strong copyright laws, a new AI Act, and the Digital Markets Act. Now we need brave enforcement.
We strongly urge policy makers to:
• Require transparent disclosures from AI developers
Full compliance with our rights reservations and away from robots.txt : AI companies must respect a website’s terms and conditions
• Provide conditions for licensing to thrive
• Create standards for responsible crawling
• Demand platform liability for AI-generated content
Journalism is essential to democracy. But it is at real risk. As Europeans, we need to act boldly to support those who produce trustworthy, verified information. Let’s not allow AI to build its future by cannibalising the very institutions that bind society together”.
Christian Van Thillo,
Executive Chairman DPG and Chairman of the European Publishers Council
