Mind Matters Natural and Artificial Intelligence News and Analysis

TagCopyright

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Robot hand typing on the computer. The concept of artificial intelligence replacing a human in dealing with another human. Ai generative

Human Impersonation AI Must Be Outlawed

I didn't used to think that AI systems could threaten civilization. Now I do.
It must be declared a serious felony, akin to attempted mass murder, to produce, sell, possess, or use any AI-powered human impersonation system. Read More ›
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Earphones and mobile phone with podcast app on screen

Napster, Spotify, and AI: How Will AI Escape Copyright Woes?

Robert J. Marks on AI and learning from past copyright cases.

Copyright lawsuits are abounding against generative AI. Since the advent of ChatGPT in late 2022, various companies, artists, and writers have raised concerns over AI’s plagiaristic tendencies. Robert J. Marks, host of the Mind Matters podcast, has the story over at Newsmax. Marks recalls the debacle of Napster, a music streaming service that provided music for “free” without payment to the artists. Not surprisingly, it was soon shut down. So how will it fare with generative AI? What’s the solution to all the impending legal woes in the realm of AI? Marks writes, Today’s Spotify keeps automatic records of song frequency and, from subscriber’s payments, distributes royalties accordingly. Similar methods could be applied to compensate content creators by generative AI. It’s not Read More ›

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Copyright symbol. The word 'Copyright' typed on retro typewriter. Business, copyright concept. Beautiful background.

Does ChatGPT Depend on Copyright Violation to Function?

Without copyrighted material, ChatGPT has slim pickings to go on.

ChatGPT, the large language model developed by OpenAI, might seem like it generates novel content, but of course we know that it partakes in what’s generally called “scraping.” It takes pre-existing material on the Internet in response to the prompt a human user inserts. Not surprisingly, the folks who put things on the Internet for a living, like writers and artists, haven’t taken so kindly to AI’s online sleuthing. In fact, a number of artists, writers (including George R. R. Martin, Jonathan Franzen, and John Grisham) and even news outlets have sued OpenAI over copyright infringement allegations. What’s fascinating, though, is that OpenAI hasn’t tried to dodge the allegation but freely admits that ChatGPT depends on copyrighted material to function. Read More ›

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Internet law concept

Framework for AI Legislation

Unfortunately, current calls for AI legislation seems to be largely motivated by fear of the unknown rather than looking for specific policy goals.
I am going to lay the groundwork for what I think good AI legislation will be. However, before I do that, I want to give some cautionary advice. Read More ›
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Man in desert

Copyright in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

What exactly is a human and how does a human differ from a computer?

On December 27, The New York Times Company sued Microsoft and OpenAI for violations of their copyright. The Times contends that training chatbots on its content in order to create an information competitor is a violation of its copyright. This suit is sure to bring up a number of old copyright issues that were never resolved, plus some new that need to be worked through. The fact is, the big search engines have been violating copyright from the very beginning. All search engines are in fact derivative works of the sites that they crawl, index, and dish out. Most search engines even provide excerpts from the sites they scan. However, most copyright holders have turned a blind eye to this for two main Read More ›

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The editor is editing the video at the computer

How Can Content Creators Avoid AI Theft?

The world of AI appears to be shaping up much like the world of social media.

Whither AI and copyright? Two significant battles working their way through the United States court system will define the relationship between human creators and AI systems. If you are a creator, you need to pay attention. First, can content created by AI be copyrighted? While it seems evident that content created by a user prompt should not be copyrightable by the user, what about the designer and operator of the AI system? It might seem reasonable to infer the humans who create a system that, in turn, creates new “works” should be able to copyright those works. In August of 2023, however, a United States District Court Judge ruled that AI-generated content cannot be copyrighted because “human authorship is a Read More ›

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Checklist Writing Notice Remember Planning Concept,home office desk background,hand holding pen and writing note on wood table.

Lawsuit Champions Human Creativity Over AI Mimicry

Copyright laws can protect against sophisticated plagiarism.
ChatGPT is specifically taught to read authors’ works so that a human can request ChatGPT to mimic the original authors’ content and style. Read More ›
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abstract ai generated illustration of a colored floating liquid in the trend colors pink, orange, blue and violet

Three Artists Launch Lawsuit Against Stable Diffusion

Content creators claim new AI tools violate copyright and intellectual property

Three artists, Sarah Andersen, Kelly McKernan and Karla Ortiz are filing a lawsuit against the AI image generators Midjourney, Stability AI, and DeviantArt. They claim the AI tools commit copyright violation and infringement of intellectual property. The lawsuit appears amid growing concerns among content creators over the increasing popularity and use of new AI image and text generators like DALL-E and ChatGPT. According to a report from Techspot,  The trio have launched a class action on behalf of all artists affected and are “seeking compensation for damages caused by Stability AI, DeviantArt, and Midjourney, and an injunction to prevent future harms.” The lawsuit alleges direct copyright infringement, vicarious copyright infringement related to forgeries, violations of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act Read More ›

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robot ai artificial intelligence is learning creativity

Defining the Role of AI in Patents

Recently, a piece of art called “Théâtre D’opéra Spatial” took home the first-place prize at the Colorado State Fair’s fine art competition in the category of digital arts/digitally manipulated photography. The art was generated using AI. Can AI hold a copyright? Can a human hold a copyright for a piece of artwork that they used AI to generate? Robert J. Read More ›

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Robot Assisting Person In Filling Form

Can AI Be Issued Patents?

Should a computer program ever be listed as an inventor of a patent? Would AI have any right to sue for patent infringement? The US Patent Office has ruled that only “natural persons” can own patents, not machines, but should that change? Robert J. Marks discusses patent law and artificial intelligence with attorney and author, Richard W. Stevens. Additional Resources Read More ›

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Stressed computer engineer reading code, cgi data and making mistake while analyzing special effects charts while working late at night. Confused, worried and anxious web developer discovering a hack

Patents and the Creativity Requirement

A new invention has to produce unexpected or surprising new results that were not anticipated by existing technology in order to be patented. Can computers generate something outside the explanation or expectation of the programmer? Robert J. Marks discusses patent law, creativity, and artificial intelligence with attorney and author, Richard W. Stevens. Additional Resources

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Instagram - @andrewtneel | Donations - paypal.me/AndrewNeel

What Are NFTs?

What’s the big deal with non-fungible tokens (NFTs)? Is it worth it to invest in NFTs? How does copyright work with NFTs? Adam Goad, Dr. Austin Egbert, and Dr. Robert J. Marks discuss non-fungible tokens, blockchain, and cryptocurrency. Additional Resources Adam Goad at IEEE Xplore Dr. Austin Egbert at IEEE Xplore ”Just As Cryptocurrencies Went Mainstream — a Huge Collapse!” Read More ›

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Who Does the Concept of “Intellectual Property” Really Benefit?

Was traditional copyright law meant to protect algorithms that decide people’s financial fate?
The title question is more complicated than we might at first suppose. The short answer is, not necessarily the starving artist, says Samir Chopra, a Brooklyn College philosophy professor and co-author with Laurence F. White of A Legal Theory for Autonomous Artificial Agents. Read More ›