IP Law Daily, STRATEGIC PERSPECTIVES: House IP subcommittee looks at conflicted relationship between AI and copyright, (May 24, 2023)
Witnesses discussed the use of copyrighted works to “train” AI models, copyrightability of works made with the help of AI, and economic impacts on creators and creative industries.
As generative artificial intelligence (AI) technology grows rapidly in capability and scope of use, artists are concerned about losing control of their works as they are “fed” to AI tools as training data, witnesses told members of the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet. Other witnesses with a more high-tech-oriented background told the subcommittee that generative AI’s output should be protected by the doctrine of fair use, although they generally agreed that some legislative action was necessary to both facilitate and rein in AI. Dubbed “Artificial Intelligence and Intellectual Property: Part I—Interoperability of AI and Copyright Law,” the hearing was the first by the subcommittee to tackle this multifaceted subject.
A Strategic Perspective article delves into the conversations held at the hearing about key questions surrounding the interaction between AI and copyright law, including the copyrightability of AI-generated works, the potential for infringement liability based on AI’s output, artists’ misgivings regarding the large-scale scraping of millions of works for use as training data, and the prospects for legislative action, including the potential for some form of licensing system.
The article, titled “How to reconcile AI tech and copyright protection? House subcommittee seeks answers,” is available here.
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