- Generative AI models like ChatGPT rely extensively on ingesting copyrighted source material without consent or compensation.
- AI companies face growing backlash from lawsuits, lawmakers, experts and public opinion alleging harms from this copyright infringement.
- Tech giants are marshaling familiar lobbying forces to cement the narrative that using copyrighted works qualifies as fair use.
- But unlike past battles, workers now clearly see how AI threatens livelihoods by replicating then monetizing output without pay.
- Creators must keep exposing self-serving industry narratives and pressing to share profits if AI systems require copyrighted works.
- Otherwise Silicon Valley will continue its windfall from other people’s labor.
AI Industry Relies on Copyright Theft to Fuel Generative Models, But Creators Fight Back
The generative AI land rush echoes past digital gold rushes where Silicon Valley amassed enormous wealth often by sidestepping existing rules. In the early internet days, digital pioneers invented beloved tools for connecting the world, but also trampled norms around privacy and intellectual property in their race to scale. Legislators and courts struggled to keep pace.
Today, AI companies wax poetic about machine learning advancing creativity and knowledge while downplaying the trail of copyright debris powering this ascent. But the push to maximize progress and profits by exploiting legal gray areas is an old impulse.
What’s changed is those affected now recognize the playbook. Unlike past eras of wide-eyed techno-optimism, creators today see clearly how “innovations” like generative AI imperil their earnings by replicating then devaluing actual human output.
The question then becomes whether the law can catch up before the damage is done. Can copyright law expand fast enough to close loopholes allowing companies to commercialize others’ work without sharing the wealth? Or will policymakers stick to the wait-and-see approach that has allowed tech firms’ methods to become entrenched?
Much depends on exposing self-aggrandizing industry rhetoric around copyright in AI development. If enough light shines on the shaky logic allowing companies to profit off plagiarized material, the law just may adapt quickly enough to spread prosperity. Otherwise we may again see progress concentrated among a handful of corporations who capitalized early on legal uncertainty around new technology. Workers should recognize that generative AI represents the latest such land grab opportunity unless they organize to demand a share of the windfall.
Silicon Valley Deploys Old Playbook to Justify AI Copyright Infringement
Generative AI models like ChatGPT have taken the world by storm, relying extensively on copyrighted source material for their training. However, rather than properly compensate the creators, AI companies are turning to a tried and true Silicon Valley playbook to continue using others’ work without payment.
A wave of high-profile lawsuits in 2022 from the New York Times, Getty Images, the Author’s Guild and others allege widespread copyright infringement by AI leaders like OpenAI and partners like Microsoft. The lawsuits claim these companies have built multi-billion dollar valuations by feeding millions of copyrighted articles, images and other creative works into their AI systems without consent or compensation.
The backlash is growing in Congress, academia and public opinion as well. Critics increasingly blast generative AI as “plagiarism machines”, and momentum builds behind compensating creators for their vital contributions. AI companies plead they cannot afford such payments, but their nine- and ten-figure valuations undermine claims of poverty.
To curb the growing outrage, AI firms are marshaling lobbying forces to cement the notion that using copyrighted works qualifies as fair use since AI output is “transformative.” Google veterans are advising groups like Creative Commons to embrace this viewpoint. AI spokespeople also downplay the copying as rare errors soon to be patched out, but experts counter that ingesting copyrighted works is fundamental for training generative systems, not some fringe activity.
This battle echoes past ones where tech giants defeated attempts to make platforms pay for hosted content, whether pirated music on YouTube or scanned book excerpts on Google. But workers today see more clearly how AI threatens their livelihoods by replicating then monetizing their output without compensation. Illustrators, writers and coders alike recognize the material harm if Silicon Valley keeps cutting creative labor costs via copyright infringement.
The tech lobby insists artists actually support unpaid AI training, but many see this as a hollow pressure campaign orchestrated behind the scenes. Regardless, creators are increasingly organized and educated on AI’s threat to their earnings. Lawmakers too now see that generative models constitute an enormous digital land grab enriching tech giants at most workers’ expense.
If AI progress rests on infringing copyrights, experts argue the profits should be shared with those who supply the raw materials. Workers must continue exposing self-serving narratives around AI and fair use, pressing to get paid for their essential labor. Otherwise Silicon Valley will perpetuate the windfall from other people’s toil.
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