Tom Gordon MP Fights Against Students’ Work Being Used To Train AI
The Liberal Democrat MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough has expressed his concerns about students' work being used to train artificial intelligence with the Russell Group, Universities UK, the Secretary of State for Education and the AI Minister this week.
This comes after Turnitin, a US company used for the submission and assessment of academic work, announced that it was considering changing its licensing terms to allow students' submissions to be used to train AI models.
Mr Gordon questioned whether students can meaningfully consent to this use of their work, as the majority of UK universities use Turnitin's software.
Engaging with Universities UK and the Russell Group, which represent over 140 institutions, he asked whether they shared his concerns and offered to work collaboratively on the issue.
Fresh from his campaign to tackle unfair student loan repayments, Mr Gordon also raised his concerns about the broader issue of students' intellectual property rights.
He has pushed the Minister to provide answers on what the Government will do to protect students' intellectual property, what discussions it has had with Turnitin regarding its proposed licensing changes, and whether it will work to establish national safeguards.
The MP, who is the Honorary president of the University of York Liberal Democrat Society has backed the Young Liberals' call for a comprehensive Digital Bill of Rights with specific protections for intellectual property in the digital age alongside online privacy.
Tom said:
"Students already have a raw deal. They're seeing their job prospects rapidly decline because of AI, and we're turning around and asking them to feed that beast.
"It's their work, their intellectual property. They shouldn't be forced to turn it into an AI learning model. It's not a real choice when 98% of higher education providers use the software.
"The Government, Russell Group and Universities UK need to step in and work with students' unions to create national safeguards; otherwise, it's David versus Goliath.
"Students should be able to understand how their work will be used and should not be placed in a position where handing over their intellectual work for commercial AI development is effectively a condition of being assessed."
