The Senate adopts a bill in response to the plundering of cultural content by AI

The text aims to introduce a “presumption of use of copyrighted content by AI models” for all cultural content published online.

Published on 09/04/2026 at 12:21

Reading time: 5min

Facing the “pillage” of cultural content by AI models, the Senate adopted on Wednesday 8 April a measure to support creators in their disputes with platforms, a text that worries the latter and embarrasses the government.

Unanimously, the Senate voted on a bill introducing a “presumption of use of copyrighted content by AI models“. A mechanism that would presume that a cultural content has been used by artificial intelligence: in case of dispute, platforms will have to prove themselves that they have not illicitly used this content.

“We are not against innovation, but it is necessary to put an end to this illegal harvesting of cultural content,” asserts Senator Laure Darcos (Horizons), the originator of the bipartisan bill. She now hopes to see it passed in the National Assembly and is working towards this with several deputies, as she indicated.

Voice cloning of actors or dubbers by AI, authors’ texts used by “Chatbots,” platforms built on entire digital libraries… The world of cultural creation has been sounding the alarm for months, denouncing this new and potentially dangerous competition for the survival of many actors in the sector.

Many creators struggle to assert their rights in court when their production is “harvested” by AI models worldwide. In recent days, 25 French dubbers obtained the removal by the American platform Fish Audio of 47 generative AI models that reproduced their voices without consent or compensation. But these legal successes remain rare.

“Our goal is not to multiply lawsuits, but to create a deterrent effect,” explains Agnès Evren (LR), co-author of this text, hoping to “encourage AI actors to abandon certain predatory behaviors” in favor of “negotiation” with the world of cultural creation. Long silent regarding this initiative, the government finally broke its silence in front of the senators, leaving the decision to the “wisdom” of the hemicycle without taking a position for or against the text. A stance symptomatic of internal tensions within the executive, which heavily emphasizes the development of AI in France, a historical priority of Macronism.

The Minister of Culture, Catherine Pégard, refused to “have to choose between the ambition of being a great country of creation and a great country of innovation,” favoring “dialogue” between creators and AI actors. Much more skeptical, the Minister of Digital, Anne Le Hénanff, pointed out a “devastating legal risk,” fearing an increase in disputes that could “put an end [à] to digital sovereignty“. According to her, proving the absence of illegal pillaging by AI will require analyzing “dozens of terabytes of data for each dispute,” which she believes is “technically impossible.”

Communist senator Pierre Ouzoulias regretted “some discord” among government ranks, stating his determination to “not give full power to digital forces“. Indeed, there are many reservations in the tech world, which strongly opposes what it sees as an attempt at regulation.

Responding to AFP, the French Alliance of Digital Industries (Afnum) criticized “a purely harmful solution for the French tech system, but also for cultural rights holders“. The French startup Mistral has already been vocal against the measure in recent months, fearing a system that would “jeopardize the normal conditions of training and deployment of AI models on European soil,” risking to “irreversibly compromise Europe’s ability to remain in the global AI race.”

Initially, detractors of the reform criticized the bill for possible incompatibility with the Constitution or European law. However, an opinion from the State Council, requested by the Senate, supported the authors in their approach, with some drafting adjustments confirmed by a unanimous vote on Wednesday evening.

The Sacem (Society of Authors, Composers and Publishers of Music) welcomed the Senate’s vote as “an important advancement for creators, in a context marked by a deep asymmetry between AI providers (…) and rights holders“. They called on the government to support the text and the Assembly to vote on it.