PLS and ALCS Agree to Development of Pioneering CLA Generative AI Licence.
Publishers’ Licensing Services (PLS) and the Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS) have announced a significant development in the licensing of content for generative AI. The two collective management organisations representing publishers and authors have agreed to the development by the Copyright Licensing Agency (CLA) of a new collective licence for generative AI.
The pioneering licence for the use of text in generative AI, such as in the training and fine-tuning of an AI language model or use in retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), will be the first of its kind to be developed in the UK. The licence will provide the opportunity for rightsholders who are not in a position to negotiate direct licensing agreements with AI developers, to receive renumeration for the use of their works in generative AI models and applications whilst ensuring that their content is protected, and copyright is respected.
The new collective licence will offer a cost-effective and convenient solution to AI developers who are required to obtain permission to use content to innovate and develop models.
The agreement comes at a crucial time for the UK’s ‘gold standard’ copyright framework. The UK government is currently reviewing responses to a recent consultation on copyright and AI, in which it proposed a controversial new copyright exception for text and data mining which rightsholders opposed. The new licence shows that a copyright exception is neither necessary nor desirable and builds upon the collective licences being developed and rolled out by the CLA for commercial text and data mining and for workplace use of content in generative AI prompts, which is to be launched on 1 May.
PLS and ALCS will now work closely with the CLA to develop the terms of the licence, offering transparency and remuneration. The CLA plans to make the new licence available to AI developers in the third quarter of 2025.
Tom West, PLS CEO said:
For over four decades PLS and our partners have delivered collective licensing solutions at scale, enabling the legitimate, lawful re-use of trusted, high-value content. As the generative AI revolution accelerates, PLS and our partners are uniquely placed to offer collective solutions — supporting both the rightsholders whose interests we represent and the AI companies that rely on high-quality content to train and ground their models.
Following an initial consultation phase with publishers last year and significant groundwork over recent months I am pleased to move forward with this important and much needed initiative to support an equitable, transparent, and sustainable framework for content use in the age of AI.
Barbara Hayes, ALCS CEO said:
When we surveyed our members last year, they made it clear that they expect us to do something about their works being used to train AI. The Government proposal to introduce a copyright exception would give very limited choice, wouldn’t remunerate creators or provide any transparency about which works are being used, and so we’re pleased to be working with our partners at PLS and CLA to develop a licence that would deliver on these terms for writers and demonstrate that licensing is a viable and practical solution.
Mat Pfleger, CLA CEO, said:
Training AI models on copyrighted content requires permission and compensation. CLA's collective licence will further demonstrate that licensing is the answer and can provide a market-based solution that is efficient and effective. Our goal is to provide a clear, legal pathway for access to quality content. One that empowers innovators to develop transformative generative AI technologies whilst respecting copyright and compensating rightsholders and creators where their works are used.
