- Copyrights gives humans special protections
when they author all kinds of creative works,
which can vary widely from photos, graphics, and much more.
There are a number of exclusive rights
afforded to the creators,
including the right to reproduce works,
prepare derivative works, distribute copies,
or display the work.
The big question with content generated by AI
is whether works generated by these models
can claim copyright protection.
Now, although these questions haven't been fully answered,
cases are making their way through the U.S. and other courts
that are seeking to clarify this issue.
In the past in the U.S. one of the keys has been
that only human beings can claim copyright protections.
And since computers aren't considered humans,
their works cannot be copyrighted,
but what about something like a prompt
where a human is partnering with computers
to generate some content?
The process of writing a prompt
can be considered creative in nature.
So then could the prompting part of generative AI
have some inherent protections?
Again, the answers aren't clear,
but cases are emerging that appear to confirm
that it depends on the amount of human and model interaction
that's used to generate the creative work.
Another issue is how these models are trained.
Most of the models were trained by using
publicly available information from the internet,
trading data sets as well as images.
And the problem with this data is that just because
something is publicly available through the internet,
it doesn't mean it's copyright free.
One of the exceptions to being liable
for using copyrighted materials is the concept of fair use.
You're allowed to use copyrighted materials for nonprofit,
educational, and non-commercial uses,
but even those rules are more like guidelines,
and the world has never seen anything like AI
that can absorb massive amounts of information before.
Companies like Microsoft and others
have statements that they will help you with issues
that may arise from the use of these tools.
Keep an eye out for both how regulations and copyright laws
are being applied over time.
Some of the answers to these big questions
will have a dramatic effect on how we use
artificial intelligence in the future.
And keep it right here on LinkedIn
for more information as it develops.