Another major disaster is working its way through the political madness and AI hype. This time it’s allowing AI to use copyrighted materials to train on copyright-protected works. This would be the same thing as “free use,” without any obligations for compensation or consultation with the owners of music, articles, and movies.
The primary exponents of this atrocity are of course, Elon Musk, Sam Altman of OpenAI, and Jack Dorsey. Altman somehow managed to include the idea that this level of access was a matter of “national security.”
Well, that makes sense. Obviously, it’s a matter of national security that a glorified chatbot should be able to create a plagiarized half-ass version of Disco Duck.
What the hell are you on about, Altman?
This whole idea makes America’s vast IP holdings look very insecure.
In other words, it’s yet another cheapskate attempt to steal other people’s property and profit off it.
What’s truly astonishing is the sheer level of selfish, one-track-minded ignorance.
To start with:
Copyright law is international. Jurisdictions only go so far.
America doesn’t have any jurisdiction to unilaterally shut down property rights in other countries, or even in America, if a court says otherwise.
Billions of dollars’ worth of existing copyright property would be made effectively worth much less, if not totally worthless, simply by bending copyright ownership out of shape.
A backlash against this incredibly stupid, shortsighted idea could see AI sued mercilessly for every single product it produces by every copyright owner on Earth.
Copyright lawsuits can include big damages for stealing storylines, modifying characters, etc, etc. These lawsuits can be conducted outside America.
America could well become a no-go zone for any kind of copyright. That’d instantly cost billions. AI access could be selectively “turned off.”
You really wanna go there? No, you “very much definitely absolutely” don’t. Nothing like doing a 1980s jingle to make a point.
Let’s not overdo the idealism, though.
IP is a huge moneymaking sector. The sector couldn’t care less about artists, art, or anything else. People are even sued for infringing their own copyright, like John Fogerty of Creedence Clearwater Revival. Robbing artists is how the sector has worked for generations.
Nobody’s talking about fixing that. AI and copyright are also still an unholy mess, and you can’t even copyright AI-generated works.
The net result of this brilliance is that you therefore can’t even create copyright dollar value out of the whole theory of AI-generated works.
Nor are these AI works all that impressive. If you know your medium, you should know exactly what and where AI gets its content. If you want to compare someone to a summer’s day, you’ll get all sorts of touristy stuff. You won’t get Shakespeare.
Musk, Altman, and Dorsey are so far out of their depth here.
Do they really expect people to just hand over billions of dollars’ worth of property?
Do they want legal total war against them and their products? You could be talking about millions of lawsuits, class actions, and perhaps huge damages as well.
It’s hard enough for artists making a living in the arts without yet another cheapskate option for robbing them. If you want to lift the “creative spirit of humanity,” don’t send artists broke.
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Disclaimer
The opinions expressed in this Op-Ed are those of the author. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the Digital Journal or its members.
