EU consultation on copyright and AI is open until 3 November 2026

EU consultation on copyright and AI is open until 3 November 2026

1 October 2026: The European Commission opened a targeted consultation on 29 September 2026 on whether the EU's copyright framework needs further measures because of new technology, including artificial intelligence. It asks for feedback on challenges and options for "potential future measures". The consultation is open until 3 November 2026.

Not yet independently verified. This rests on the Commission’s own announcement; no independent report was found, and the consultation questionnaire itself was not read. We will update this when it can be confirmed, and remove this note.

What it covers

The Commission names four topics:

• the use of copyright-protected content in artificial intelligence;
• the fight against online piracy of content such as live events;
• how the single equitable remuneration right of music performers and producers is applied;
• copyright in scientific research.

It says the consultation builds on the feedback to a call for evidence earlier in 2026 and on earlier studies and assessments.

Who is invited

The Commission lists rights holders, generative-AI providers and other actors in the AI value chain, intermediaries, collective management organisations, sports and live-event organisers, research organisations, national authorities, consumer organisations and non-governmental organisations.

Why it matters to businesses that build or buy AI

The question for the AI part is what, if anything, the EU adds on top of the rules that already apply: the text-and-data-mining exception and its opt-out in the 2019 copyright directive, and the copyright-policy and training-content summary duties that the AI Act places on providers of general-purpose AI models. A consultation is not a law. But this is the stage at which the Commission decides whether to propose new rules, and the people who answer shape the options it looks at.

For a software buyer, the practical issues are licensing terms for training data, opt-out handling, and who carries the risk if a model was trained on content it should not have used. Those already appear in AI vendor contracts as indemnities and data-source warranties.

What to do

• AI developers and providers selling in the EU: decide whether to respond, alone or through a trade body, before 3 November 2026.
• Companies that license content to AI developers, or that hold large catalogues: this is the place to say whether today's opt-out works for you.
• Buyers of AI tools: check what your contracts say about training-data provenance and copyright indemnities; the outcome of this process may change what vendors are willing to promise.

Sources

• European Commission (Shaping Europe’s digital future): Commission seeks feedback on challenges and way forward in the area of effect of technology on copyright - 29 September 2026