A group of authors, publishers, producers, and other European rightsholder organisations released a statement expressing their “dissatisfaction” with the European Union’s (EU) General-Purpose AI (GPAI) Code of Practice.
The organisations included in the statement say the GPAI Code of Practice doesn’t go far enough in protecting creative sectors in the region from having their work scraped by AI companies to train AI models.
The GPAI Code of Practice, released on July 10 2025, is a set of guidelines to help AI companies comply with the EU AI Act obligations. It includes three pillars – transparency, copyright, and safety and security.
Organisations involved in the statement include the European Alliance of News Agencies (EANA), The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), the European Guild for Artificial Intelligence Regulation (EGAIR), and the European Writers’ Council (EWC).
The statement highlights Article 53(1)(c) and (d) of the EU AI Act. These articles aim to protect copyright holders from having content used by AI without permission. The AI Act states that these rights to IP protection could be exercised and enforced under European Union law.
The creative organisations argue that these principles have been dismissed and that Europe is prioritising AI development over creatives sectors – which contributes nearly 7 percent of EU GDP, the statement outlines.
AI Protections in the EU
The EU AI Act was established in 2024. Its purpose was to enforce sustainable and responsible AI growth in Europe.
Its principles include using AI to improve, rather than replace, human work; and ensuring that AI systems maintain a level of transparency.
Creative industries have been vocal about copyright concerns amid the development of AI systems.
In the UK, publishers were involved in legal battles, citing similar concerns. Creatives proposed an amendment to the Data (Use and Access) Bill. The amendment would force AI developers to disclose when content had been used to train AI models. The UK government repeatedly rejected the amendment.
The European organisations against the proposed Code of Practice state that the unauthorised use of content, or content scraping, by AI companies is becoming more prevalent. The organisations voice that “the damage to and unfair competition with the cultural and creative sectors can be seen each day.”
These actions directly contradict the objectives of the EU AI Act, the statement argues.
“We strongly reject any claim that the Code of Practice strikes a fair and workable balance or that the Template will deliver ‘sufficient’ transparency about the majority of copyright works or other subject matter used to train GenAI models.” the statement reads. “This is simply untrue and a betrayal of the EU AI Act’s objectives.”
The coalition calls for the European Commission to properly enforce Article 53, “ensuring that the EU AI Act lives up to its promise to safeguard European intellectual property rights in the age of generative AI.”
The organisations additionally encourage European Parliament and Member States to speak out against the AI legislation violations.
