A horde of creatives accused OpenAI and other tech companies of violating copyright by using content to train AI models without the owners' permission.
What's happening?
The list of creative organizations and individuals filing lawsuits against AI companies is long. According to TheStreet, the New York Times, The Authors Guild of America, comedian Sarah Silverman, and author Paul Tremblay are just a few plaintiffs. Many of these suits will go to trial in 2025, establishing precedents for this modern copyright concern.
Huge companies leveraging AI, such as OpenAI, Anthropic, and Meta, use work from authors, visual artists, musicians, news outlets, and other copyright owners without permission or compensation. The content trains AI chatbots and artificial content generators.
AI companies argue that their use of copyrighted content falls under "fair use" permissions. Presumably, they're citing the "teaching" part of fair use policy.
However, the Copyright Alliance notes that an important factor when assessing fair use is "The effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work," which is decidedly negative.
Why is AI copyright important?
Reuters reported that "OpenAI, Meta, Silicon Valley investment firm Andreessen Horowitz and others warn that being forced to pay copyright holders for their content could cripple the burgeoning U.S. AI industry."
Using AI can hurt editorial and artistic industries the most, putting journalists, graphic designers, and other creatives out of work.
But the decisions on whether AI can legally copy this content impact the earth, too. If companies turn to AI-generated content even more, tech companies will need more servers.
These servers can be a drain on the planet, relying on dirty energy sources and limited water supplies. The more servers there are, the more potential there is for AI to negatively affect the environment.
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Absolutely 👍 What's being done about AI companies stealing content?
The pushback against AI's use of copyrighted content is a huge win for creative industries, but AI's continued growth will necessitate more regulations and laws regarding its behavior.
As courts continue to hear cases regarding the fair use of copyrighted material by AI systems, their rulings will set pivotal precedents for other companies.
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