Politics! But not the kind we read about in the legacy media every day. I wrote last week about Calum Smyth introducing the political angle into the GenAI legal narrative. This week, I found it in two unusual places: The Hollywood Reporter and the Copyright Alliance, where they introduce a bit of pessimism from an author’s perspective. This comes in a week when Ziff Davis, Inc. filed its lawsuit against OpenAI. The Ziff Davis case is too early to comment on, as OpenAI hasn’t had the opportunity to respond and present its side of the story. That will come. But it’s a case worth watching over the next couple of years.
Ed Newton-Rex
The Hollywood Reporter published a guest column by Newton-Rex titled “Creators Are Losing the Copyright Battle”. He is the founder of Fairly Trained, a non-profit that advocates for content owners in their struggle against AI companies that source content to train their LLMs.
He surprisingly states, “I think there’s still a real chance that the world settles on a fair balance between AI companies’ and creators’ interests.” Hmmm. I’m not sure that’s true, but it was surprising to hear that he thinks the odds are not necessarily in favor of the authors.
He also writes that he sees a risk of governments changing copyright law to favor AI companies. This concern is fueled by fears that AI companies may be complicit in stoking governments’ fears about losing the global AI race.
Newton-Rex is not an attorney, so he isn’t commenting on the legal specifics as much as he seems to be aware that winning the GenAI legal wars may not be a slam dunk for authors.
Copyright Alliance
In February 2024, Copyright Alliance issued a position paper entitled "Artificial Intelligence." The paper represents their stance on AI and GenAI efforts and offers a fair treatment of the subject. While this position paper is over a year old, it still reflects current events in the legal world. One point they make that everyone, regardless of their political stance, can embrace is the need to respect the rights of creators and copyright owners. No argument there. I would add that the public good (remember that part of copyright law?) should be part of the conversation. “Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also the interests of others.” Phi 2:2 BSB.
In point one, Copyright Alliance admits that new AI laws may be formulated, which certainly have the potential to change the legal narrative. I liked point four, where they discuss the fair use question regarding ingesting content into LLMs. No one knows how the courts will decide on this, but Copyright Alliance addresses its position succinctly, providing a good understanding of an author’s vantage point of fair use and GenAI. It’s worth a look.
Have a blessed weekend!
Bruce Erickson