Our European counterparts were able to secure these crucial rights to protect their cultural industries. There should be no reason the government can't provide the same level of protections in Canada. Large and well-funded platforms like Google, OpenAI and Microsoft should be required to operate on the same playing field in Canada as they will have to in the European Union.
The Canadian government must ensure that creators are fully empowered to exercise their rights and make informed decisions. We believe that, unlike the provisions of the EU AIA, which include an opt-out regime associated with a text and data mining exception, Canadian creators and rights holders should benefit from an opt-in system to license their works.
An AI tool cannot originate artistic work or supplant human creativity. The value of creativity is not captured or understood by the AI processes. Despite claims by the operators of these tools that their use is transformative, the reality is quite different. Generative AI tools do not genuinely transform. Instead, they exploit and launder the creative works they mine. It is imperative that authors receive fair compensation for the use of existing works and for all future uses.
Members of the committee, we thank you for your time. We would be pleased to respond to your questions.