BY: Paul DelSignore
Despite the widespread growth of generative AI and the potential adoption of AI-generated content by enterprise companies, there is an elephant in the room that is rarely discussed.
Who owns the IP of AI-generated content?
On Mar 16, 2023, The Copyright Office initiated an effort to investigate copyright law and policy concerns related to Generative AI.
“This initiative is in direct response to the recent striking advances in generative AI technologies and their rapidly growing use by individuals and businesses. The Copyright Office has received requests from Congress and members of the public, including creators and AI users, to examine the issues raised for copyright, and it is already receiving applications for registration of works including AI-generated content.”
To be clear on the current law regarding copyrighting AI artwork:
“If a work’s traditional elements of authorship were produced by a machine, the work lacks human authorship and the Office will not register it“
– USCO director Shira Perlmutter (link to doc)
Director Shira Perlmutter went on to state the following…
Digital art, poems, and books generated using tools like DALL-E, Stable Diffusion, Midjourney, ChatGPT, or even the newly released GPT-4 will not be protected by copyright if they were created by humans using only a text description or prompt.
So what does this mean with the current landscape and progress of Generative AI?
The Generative AI Boom
The maturity of image creation, the explosion of writing tools, and the rise of video and audio tools are driving the growth of generative AI at a rapid pace.
The release of GPT-4, the adoption of APIs, and LLM open-source solutions have added to the acceleration.
Tech giants like Microsoft and Google are embedding generative AI features into their business suites, enabling companies to implement creative workflows and produce content at scale.
What does all this mean?
Creative content is about to explode.
And it’s not clear if creative professionals, companies, and content creators understand the legal aspects of Intellectual Property (IP) in accordance with the existing copyright legislation.
The reason it’s not clear is that nobody seems to be talking about it.
Here’s What You Need To Know
If you are generating content using AI tools, you don’t own any of it.
That’s right. The beautiful images you generate with Midjourney are not protected. I can take your images, print them on a t-shirt or book cover and sell them without any ramifications.
If you are a company that is using AI for written documents, articles, or news items, they can be copied and re-used somewhere else.
If you are using AI to generate fashion and interior design, advertising, or marketing campaigns, music or sound effects, 3D models, magazine covers, billboards, or educational content, none of that is protected under copyright laws.
If you are creating AI-generated videos, (like what Netflix just did for background animations in an anime), you don’t own the IP for those videos or animations.
Fair Use Lawsuits
In addition to the IP of generated content, there is also the issue of fair use.
Three artists are taking legal action against Stability AI, Midjourney, and DeviantArt for allegedly using copyrighted images to train their AI models without obtaining permission or compensating the artists.
In addition to that lawsuit, Getty Images is also suing Stability AI over an alleged copyright violation.
Prior to these two lawsuits against AI art, two programmers filed a copyright suit against OpenAI, Microsoft, and GitHub, accusing them of using their code without proper licensing to train the Copilot AI coding tool.
What does this mean for you?
It is unlikely this will happen, but if the courts rule that the artists should be compensated for the trained data, this would have a huge impact on companies and AI artists that are using AI content in their products.
If you are a creative agency or company using AI generative art for consumer products or for distribution, you may find yourself suddenly having to pay IP royalties or artist compensation on products that are already on the market.
Unlikely to happen, but still a possibility.
It’s difficult to imagine that the legal departments of major corporate entities would permit AI-generated content production once they understand the IP regulations.
And if you are an artist that is building your career or side hustle using AI-generated content, you should also be aware of these issues.
Mixed Media And The Ambiguity Of Creative Authorship?
What is unclear at the moment is how mixed media factors into AI laws.
If I take a generated image and modify it, or if I train a model based on my images, does that qualify as copyright?
If I write a melody on top of an AI-generated music track, does that qualify?
What if I use AI to summarize articles that somebody else wrote?
It’s evident that the possibilities are not always clear-cut. The legal framework must adapt to keep up with technological advancements. However, history has shown that regulations tend to lag behind technological progress.
Next Steps
While these laws are still evolving, there is an opportunity for all of us to express our opinions, regardless of our position on the matter.
Throughout the spring, the Office will host public listening sessions with artists, creative industries, AI developers and researchers, and lawyers working on these issues.
To participate in the public listening sessions, individuals can register via the provided links below:
- Literary Works on Wednesday, April 19, from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. eastern time
- Visual Works on Tuesday, May 2, from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. eastern time
- Audiovisual Works on Wednesday, May 17, from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. eastern time
- Music and Sound Recordings on Wednesday, May 31, from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. eastern time
Final Thoughts
AI-generated content is still a new technology and copyright laws are a mess. This is understandable considering that generative AI is a new technology that we are still making sense of.
But as the use of generative AI makes its way into corporations, creative agencies, and side hustles, we need to be aware of the laws.
source: medium
