The Premier League has accused the UK government of not considering the sports industry when proposing reforms to British artificial intelligence (AI) copyright legislation.
A government consultation is examining ways to attract AI companies to the UK, partly by giving tech vendors partial exemptions from copyright law to train their models.
Although the most controversial measure, which would have allowed AI firms to use any copyrighted material unless the owner opted out, has been dropped, the proposals have been met by a fierce backlash from musicians and artists.
However, a freedom of information (FoI) request submitted by The Times has revealed the Premier League has also voiced its opposition.
In its submission, the league queried whether ministers had considered both the contribution of the Premier League and sport to the UK economy when devising its plans, stating the success of English soccer owed much to strong copyright protections.
The Premier League has generated UK£12.25 billion (US$16.41 billion) in broadcast and commercial revenue for the 2025 to 2028 cycle and international media rights income alone is up by 27 per cent.
The league said any exceptions given to AI companies could be exploited by pirates to create illegal streams of its matches, undermining the value of its media rights deals.
It said the idea of AI firms using the intellectual property (IP) of others without permission was seen as acceptable because of the economic significance of developing such technologies in the UK, but would not be tolerated in any other context.
Instead, the Premier League called for a licensing framework that ensured copyright owners were fairly remunerated for their IP and could exert greater control over how it was being used. It also wants AI firms to be more transparent about their algorithms and is demanding strict penalties for violation of copyright.
“The UK is home to some of the world’s most valuable IP rights (including Premier League content and live event data), which are highly sought-after all over the world,” the Premier League said in its submission, “The government therefore has an opportunity to make it clear to AI providers that if they want to access this content, that they must comply with UK copyright law.
“That should include clear obligations on providers to comply with UK law even if AI models are used in the UK but trained outside of the UK, so as to prevent providers from importing a pre-trained AI model into the UK which would infringe UK copyright.”
The government says it no longer has a preferred option for the reforms.
“It will take time to get this right,” a government spokesperson told The Times. “We have identified four areas where we will focus the next phase of this work, including on digital replicas, labelling AI generated content, creator control and transparency, and support for smaller and independent creatives to license their content. We will continue to work closely with all stakeholders throughout this process.”
Sport has largely been positive about the impact of AI on everything from performance and recruitment through to content and fan engagement. But in a world where media rights are plateauing or contracting, and where sport faces huge competition from other forms of digital entertainment, many leagues and events are keen to ensure they share in the benefits of any value generated by their IP.
The Premier League has readily embraced AI in recent times, signing deals with Microsoft and Adobe. However, it wants to ensure that its relationship with AI is on its terms, allows it to benefit financially, and does not impact the value of the broadcast deals that have delivered more than three decades of success.
Sport does not exist in a vacuum and how AI functions in the future will be an issue for regulators and society to work on as a whole. The Premier League just wants to ensure it has a seat at the table.
By SportsPro
