Exclusive: partial climbdown over use of work protected by copyright considered after intense lobbying by top artists

Ministers are planning to offer key concessions to their plans to make it easier for artificial intelligence companies to use copyright-protected work, in a partial climbdown after weeks of lobbying from some of the world’s most famous artists.

Sources have told the Guardian that ministers have accepted the need to protect British creative industries from the plans, which would otherwise have made their work available for access by AI companies unless they deliberately opted out.