The European Commission has launched a consultation with stakeholders aimed at supporting the implementation of the obligation for providers of general-purpose AI models to identify and comply with rights reservations expressed by rightholders.
The objective is to facilitate the application of the obligations laid down in the AI Act for General Purpose AI (GPAI) providers, in particular as regards respect for copyright and the recognition of rights reservation (opt-out) declarations by rightholders.
The consultation focuses on identifying technically feasible, widely accepted and machine-readable opt-out protocols for text and data mining (Text and Data Mining – TDM), within the framework of the GPAI Code of Practice.
More specifically:
- The consultation supports the implementation of the AI Act with regard to the obligation of GPAI providers to comply with rights reservations declared by rightholders.
- The GPAI Code of Practice, endorsed by the Commission, provides means to comply with EU copyright law, and signatories to the GPAI Code commit to recognizing and respecting appropriate, machine-readable rights reservation protocols, beyond robots.txt and its subsequent versions.
- The Commission, with the support of EUIPO, seeks broad agreement on opt-out protocols that are considered technologically advanced, technically implementable and widely used by rightholders in the cultural and creative sectors.
- The consultation invites rightholders, GPAI providers, civil society organizations, standardisation bodies and other stakeholders to express views on the suitability and uptake of available TDM opt-out solutions.
- In parallel, expressions of interest are sought for participation in dialogue workshops aimed at developing a commonly accepted list of protocols that should be respected.
- Following the completion of the process, the Commission will publish a list of agreed machine-readable opt-out solutions, which will be reviewed at least every two years.
The deadline for submitting contributions has been extended until 23 January 2026.
Take part in the Consultation here.