On June 2, 2025, at the Ministry of Culture, Rachida Dati, Minister of Culture, and Clara Chappaz, Minister Delegate for Artificial Intelligence and Digital Technology, chaired the launch meeting of the consultation cycle jointly facilitated by the two ministries between representatives of generative AI model developers and representatives of rights holders from the cultural and media sectors.
On this occasion, the ministers reiterated their desire to see common solutions emerge from the dialogue between AI providers and rights holders in order to guarantee a secure framework for the development of trusted AI to serve our societal model and our economy. In recent years, a few players have led the way by signing initial agreements. This approach deserves to be encouraged.
The consultation cycle, which will continue until next November, should promote mutual understanding of the respective challenges for these two ecosystems, highlight common interests and identify good practices, by reconciling respect for copyright and related rights with access to quality data for the development of generative AI models.
This cycle will be structured around several meetings whose purpose will be to deepen discussions around the valorization of data from the cultural and media sectors, to identify good practices for negotiating licensing agreements, to study the feasibility of the different possible methods of remuneration and to identify ways of improving the mechanisms for expressing the right of opposition (opt-out), in order to strengthen their visibility and the consideration by third parties.
However, the consultation is not intended to formulate new proposals on subjects covered by European negotiations and work, such as the relationship between business secrecy and the transparency obligation provided for in the "Artificial Intelligence Regulation", as well as the single opt-out register.
Marc Bourreau, Doctor of Economics, Professor of Economics at Télécom-Paris (Institut Polytechnique de Paris), and Maxime Boutron, Master of Requests at the Council of State, appointed by the two ministries to co-pilot the consultation cycle as qualified individuals, presented the broad outlines of the methodology that will be followed.
This exercise is designed in an open and agile manner in order to be able to integrate all existing points of view. As such, the stakeholders in the consultation will draw on all the ongoing discussions, in particular on the work of the mission relating to the remuneration of cultural content used by the CSPLA's AI systems [1] , the final results of which are expected at the beginning of the summer. Qualified individuals will also be able to conduct hearings with entities and individuals whose contributions they consider useful in order to inform their reflections. Finally, developers of generative AI models and representatives of rights holders from the cultural and media sectors who have not been designated to participate in this consultation cycle will be able to express their wish to contribute to the discussions underway.
Rachida Dati, Minister of Culture, declared: "We share the conviction that there can be no technological sovereignty without cultural sovereignty. This is the whole point of the approach we have undertaken with Clara Chappaz. It will enable the emergence of a common framework to take advantage of the technological advances in AI, without ever abandoning our cultural, ethical, and democratic requirements. It is not a question of opposing but of working together to build an ethical, balanced, and responsible ecosystem."
Clara Chappaz, Minister Delegate for Artificial Intelligence and Digital Technology, said: "Artificial intelligence is redefining culture. With this consultation, we are paving the way, together with Minister of Culture Rachida Dati, for a European model where innovation and creation advance together, serving our digital and cultural sovereignty."
Image © Rachida Dati and Clara Chappaz on June 2 at the Ministry of Culture [Louise Meresse / SIPA / MC]