Artificial Intelligence, like many advances in technology, has its advocates and its detractors. But no community grows more concerned by the day than the creative community of writers, artists, musicians- creators of all kinds- whose creations are protected by copyright and risk being scraped without permission and misappropriated by AI engines. Many creators have taken their cause to the courts. Some notable recent cases include:
- Anthony Mona Awad & Paul Tremblay vs. Open AI
- Getty Images vs. Stability AI
- Writers led by Sarah Silverman, Christopher Golden & others vs. Open AI & Meta
- Sarah Anderson, Kelly McKernan, Karla Ortiz vs. Stability AI
Litigation is certainly one way to address the issue. But if technology is threatening creators’ rights, why not ask the question: how could technology be used to protect creators rights?
Copyright law has protected creators for hundreds of years, starting with the British Statute of Queen Anne in 1710, which originally protected authors of books, but over time grew to include maps, performances, paintings, photographs, video, computer programs. There has never been a more challenging time for creators than now in the age of AI, particularly in the visual arts, as copies of their works proliferate on the web, in many cases without their knowledge.
And yet despite the advances in technology there are still sparse solutions available to track, document and identify copyright ownership. Let alone provide an easy method to search, discover, and use content.
Imagine a world where the only way to make a dinner reservation was to look up a restaurant online and call the phone number. A world without OpenTable, Resy, Tock, or others. What about a world with only taxis, no Uber, or only hotels, no AirBnB or Vrbo. It wasn’t so long ago that this was the world we lived in. Today, creators of all types of content have the right to charge for use, but few platforms exist on which to do so; similar to the way someone who owns a car, house or apartment can turn those assets into a small business.
Museums might seem like an unlikely place to start, but actually because they manage such a significant percentage of the world’s most valuable IP, they are exactly where the automation of requests for use happens. Soon many of the world’s most recognizable works will be easily identifiable by location, provenance and rights holder. And a high-resolution image can be downloaded by anyone, permission granted for use in blogs like this one, or movies, VR, AR, books, advertisements; a world of true open access for billions of works of art.
Sports & entertainment is another fertile territory for the automation of rights. It surprises most people to learn that movie studios, streaming video services, broadcast companies are also still using email, spreadsheets and middlemen in a manual system of requests & permissions vs. software that automates this process. A marketplace is coming for easier access to a wealth of permission protected content in the sports & entertainment field. Brands across industries also have valuable content in their Digital Asset Management systems (DAMs) with permission requirements. Allowing more creators to both request and permit use of valuable content via these systems of record, will exist soon, as surely as do car-ride software and home rental software enabled platforms.
AI promises to transform the world in ways even more profound than did the internet, according to technology experts. But these experts also affirm that AI is only as good as the content that it is trained on. When creators’ works can more easily be identified as belonging to them and they have the technology to permit use, the power of AI will increase both exponentially and positively. Creativity is meant to be shared and used to inspire everyone. And creators are meant to be given control as to with whom, what, when and where their work is shared. The advent of AI may not actually be a threat to creators’ rights, it may be the advancement that finally brings new transparency and urgency to new ways creators can protect their rights with technology. A world of easier & broader access to all kinds of inspiring IP protected content is right around the corner.
