The AI companies have defended their actions by arguing that the use of copyrighted works to train AI falls under fair use, a concept in copyright law that allows for exceptions if the material is changed in a "transformative" way. However, many creators feel it's unfair for large, wealthy companies to use their work to create new moneymaking tools without compensation. This issue is part of a larger movement as AI shifts long-standing norms for the internet, and could pose a significant barrier to the adoption of generative AI tools.
Key takeaways:
- A group of artists, writers, and filmmakers are arguing that AI tools like ChatGPT and Bard were illegally trained on their work without permission or compensation, posing a legal threat to the companies pushing the tech.
- High-profile lawsuits have been filed against OpenAI and Google, alleging the companies violated the rights of millions of internet users by using their social media comments to train conversational AIs.
- AI companies argue that the use of copyrighted works to train AI falls under fair use, a concept in copyright law that creates an exception if the material is changed in a “transformative” way.
- The battle over who will benefit from AI is already getting contentious, with content creators finding allies among major social media companies, which have also seen the comments and discussions on their sites scraped and used to teach AI bots how human conversation works.