The research team has published a white paper (Re:Commons: Renewing the Digital Commons for Cultural Heritage), a zine (Dreams of the Digital Commons)  and two policy responses address related policy challenges: one on the impact of AI scraping bots on the gallery, library, archives and museum (GLAM) sector, the other on copyright environment for cultural heritage institutions in relation to scraping by AI companies.

The team argues that current regulatory frameworks do not yet balance the needs of the cultural heritage sector with those of the AI industry. That imbalance matters. Much of the infrastructure affected by scraping is publicly funded. Yet the value extracted from it often flows to private companies, without consent, attribution or remuneration. University of Edinburgh’s research reports and policy submissions linked above advocate for the cultural heritage sector to have a meaningful say in whether, when and how bots access their online collections and for public support to offset the costs of commercial AI scraping.