The Missing Goal-Scorers in the Artificial Intelligence Team: Of Big Data, the Fundamental Right to Research and the failed Text and Data Mining Limitations in the CSDM Directive

Abstract

This article argues that recent strategies of the European Union in the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI) resemble a football team missing a goal-scorer to win any of the competitions with other jurisdictions having more flexible limitations to copyright, in particular with those allowing robust text and data mining (TDM) activities. It analyses the TDM limitations newly introduced in EU copyright law by the Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market to show that these provisions not only fail to take duly into account the right to research grounded in the fundamental right to information, but also will not allow the European Union to provide a competitive environment for the development of AI and data-driven innovations. As a conclusion, the article calls for a prompt revision of the copyright framework for TDM activities at EU and international levels, combined with an implementation of the directive by Member States that would be compliant with the fundamental rights framework of the EU and the objective advanced by European policy makers.

Keywords: Copyright, Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, The Right to Research, Text and Data Mining Limitations