By: Allan Rocha de Souza [1] and Luca Schirru [2]

The Salvador da Bahia Declaration (SBC, 2024) was adopted by the G20 Culture Ministers on November 07, with many important statements of policy at the intersection of Cultural Rights, Copyright, and Research. The role of science was emphasized, not only as a means to advance knowledge but to preserve and respect local languages, arts, and culture. Workers in the cultural sector received special attention with a focus on social protection, labor standards, and protection of their livelihoods, including in the context of the growth of artificial intelligence. 

The Declaration records agreement from leaders of the world’s 20 largest economies on four key priorities: (i) cultural diversity and social inclusion; (ii) culture, digital environment, and copyright; (iii) creative economy and sustainable development; (iv) preservation, safeguarding, and promotion of cultural heritage and memory.

The first (“Cultural diversity and social inclusion”) and fourth (“Preservation, safeguarding and promotion of cultural heritage and memory”) priorities are mainly focused on cultural heritage, cultural diversity, and social inclusion. Here, research is defined as playing an important role in “strengthen[ing] action for the safeguarding and promotion of the world’s cultural diversity and memory embedded in cultural heritage in all its forms”. 

In “Priority 2: Culture, digital environment and copyright”, there are prominent statements on the role of copyright and AI. In particular, the statement raises concerns related to the remuneration of rightsholders in the digital environment (“emphasize the importance of appropriate payment for rights holders in the digital environment”), the promotion of transparency mechanisms on AI inputs and outputs (“encourage the consideration of appropriate safeguards, which could include transparency over AI model inputs and outputs”), and safeguarding IP rights in the development and use of AI systems (“encourage continuing an international dialogue, to guide and safeguard an ethical, safe, inclusive, trustworthy, transparent AI for good and for all, that is respectful of intellectual property rights”). (SBC, 2024, 4) 

IP rights are also mentioned in the third priority (“Creative economy and sustainable development”), when referring to the importance of compliance with IP rights framework to creators and cultural professionals:

“Highlighting the importance of ensuring decent working conditions of artists, authors, creators and cultural professionals, as well as compliance with existing intellectual property rights frameworks, the exercise of artistic freedom, appropriate payment and trade, and adequate access to comprehensive and sustainable social protection systems, as appropriate.” (SBC, 2024, 5)

Call to action:

Amongst the actions that were proposed in the declaration, the following are related to IP and research.

  • Foster cooperation on science, research, and innovation by countries and international organizations by promoting “voluntary knowledge-sharing initiatives […] supporting evidence- and data-based public policy making, and promoting better transparency, accountability, efficiency and effectiveness of public policies”; (SBC, 2024, 10)
  • Highlight the role of research in the collaboration across sectors to protect cultural heritage by leveraging digital technologies, interoperability between databases, and expertise from various stakeholders “to sustain due diligence and provenance research, inventorying, investigations and risk preparedness and management”; (SBC, 2024, 12)
  • Study AI’s impact on cultural institutions, creative industries, and the livelihoods of authors, creators, and artists; [3]
  • Promote the protection of traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions aligned with IP laws, by an ethical approach that prevents misuse and cultural appropriation. [4]

Copyright was particularly featured in items 12, 13, 14, 16 and 24, which proposed actions to:

  • Engage at the global level the debate regarding the issues in the intersection of AI and Copyright (e.g. transparency) and their regulation, as well as the copyright in the digital environment, focusing on remunerating authors, artists, and rightsholders, and safeguarding IP rights;
  • Promote AI systems that are ethical, transparent, and reliable, designed to preserve and promote linguistic and cultural diversity while respecting copyright and intellectual property rights throughout their lifecycle;
  • Foster international cooperation on the rights and working conditions of authors, creators, artists, and cultural professionals, ensuring artistic freedom, fair compensation, and social protections in alignment with IP rights and international labor standards.

The Cultural Declaration of the G20 Ministers expressed, at the bottom line, the concern with cultural diversity and the risk of further standardization of discourses, approaches, perspectives, and world views, which has become even more worrisome with AI technologies.

[1] Copyright Professor at the Graduation Program on Public Policy, Strategies and Development (PPED/UFRJ) and the Civil Law and Humanities Department of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (DDHL/ITR/UFRRJ), Brazil. He also teaches Copyright of the IP Specialization Course at Pontifícia Universidade Católica (PUC-RJ). Scientific Director of the Brazilian Copyright Institute (IBDautoral), a copyright consultant at Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (FIOCRUZ), and a lawyer. Contact: allan@rochadesouza.com – ORCID: 0000-0002-6549-0085.

[2] Executive Director and Researcher at the Brazilian Copyright Institute. Postdoctoral researcher at INCC. Copyright Professor at the Specialization Program on Intellectual Property Law at PUC-RJ. Lawyer. Contact: luca.schirru@ibdautoral.org.br – ORCID: 0000-0002-4706-3776. 

[3]  See Salvador da Bahia Declaration (2024, 9-12), including but not limited to items 12, 13, 14, 16, 20, 24, and 25.

[4] See Salvador da Bahia Declaration (2024, 8-15), including but not limited to items  9, 10, 11, 16, 19, 26 28, 31, 32, and 33.