20 Nov Creative industries seek to restrict copyrighted works being ingested by Generative AI tools
The BBC Correspondent, Rory Cellan-Jones, recently discovered a biography of his life being sold on Amazon, using extracts from his own memoir but written by someone he had never heard of (see The Guardian), which is yet another example of artificial intelligence (AI), specifically Generative AI tools such as ChatGPT, producing work that infringes the intellectual property rights (IPRs) of unsuspecting IP rights holders. Amazon is now tasked with removing book titles uploaded by authors using pseudonyms where the content of the book has been created using AI. While this may protect Amazon, it does little to help the rights holders of digital works and printed books. Accordingly, the IP focus is increasingly shifting away from the content output from these Generative AI tools towards monitoring the content going into these tools and how to police it.
At least in the UK, there were calls from The Publishers Association (a representative body for authors of digital and print books) for the UK government to make a declaration at the AI Summit, hosted in the UK in November 2023, that “UK intellectual property law should be respected when any content is ingested by AI systems and a licence obtained in advance.”
This request is at odds with the UK Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO) who suggested an exemption be made for Generative AI tools that would allow artificial intelligence developers free use of copyrighted books and music for training. The UK government is now trying to walk a tightrope between the creative industries and the UKIPO, stating that it is committed to a “balanced and pragmatic” approach to the use of AI in the creative industries.
“To support this, the Intellectual Property Office is working with AI firms and rights holders to produce an agreement and guidance on copyright. This supports our ambition to make the UK a world leader in AI research and development, while making sure our copyright framework continues to promote and reward innovation and investment in the UK’s creative industries.”
Finding a middle ground between the need to protect the IP rights of authors of creative works while not over restricting the advancement of AI technology will no doubt be a challenge, and not just in the UK.
