Hi there,
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/67851771f0528401055d2329/ai_o... is an action plan by the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology that was released today.
Section 1.2 contains a series of recommendations that - in my opinion - overlap with some of the goals of Wikimedia, not limited to recommendation 13:
"13.Establish a copyright-cleared British media asset training data set, which can be licensed internationally at scale. This could be done through partnering with bodies that hold valuable cultural data like the National Archives, Natural History Museum, British Library and the BBC to develop a commercial proposition for sharing their data to advance AI."
In my opinion, this dataset could and should be labeled CC-0 or released under a permissive license such as CC-by which would make it compatible with Wikimedia projects such as Wikimedia Commons. In return, Wikimedians could offer the UK government to help annotate, curate or otherwise improve metadata, making this dataset more valuable for training. I am certain that these options are not on the top of the Secretary of State's mind. The 'commercial proposition' is most likely a sign that their line of thinking is in a different direction, which would be a shame, in many ways.
Other recommendations could be compatible with Wikimedia goals and requirements, but the lack of wording concerning free and open licenses in section 1.2 remains a cause for concern.
In some respects, I feel reminded on the early "Europeana" times when free and open licenses were not the consensus among EU member states concerning content on this platform.
Anyone willing to make the necessary calls to the UK Government?
Mathias