This article talks about how AI companies say they can’t make a profit if they have to pay for copyrighted workers. Really?
Does this mean copyright isn’t important if you call yourself a business then? If you make a product from copyrighted works? This seems to open up new legal possibilities, doesn’t it?
Or is this another way that people who create original content aren’t paid, and those who steal their content and repurpose it get all the rewards? If that is the case, the claims of piracy ring pretty hollow don’t they?
We have always been told that stealing others’ work is wrong. Yet when it is done on a massive scale, somehow that is acceptable because it is a nameless, faceless machine. This is one of the first things that bothered me about AI. You have to pay people you use to train your work, and they should also get paid if their original work is part of the foundation of how your technology works.
I have talked before about how I love music mashups/remixes because they are creative and often produce superior IMHO music. Even with those works, I would support paying the original authors of the music for that. Everyone needs to be paid for their work. The only people who we shouldn’t force to pay for creative use of works are people in poverty because those original forms of music/art/whatever can help lift them out of poverty.
For example, when hip-hop/rap was created it lifted many people out of poverty. This was a social good. However, it has been argued that this wouldn’t have happened unless there had been riots in the past that led to this equipment being available to those who couldn’t afford it. In a very real way, stolen equipment led to a new form of music, and that has enriched both music equipment makers and the music industry as a whole. I don’t see this as a negative for society. Yes, stealing is wrong, but if it leads to higher creativity and a clear ROI it is completely justified in the course of human history. You can learn more in this YouTube video.
The point is that AI shouldn’t be allowed to be another way people steal from others. It isn’t making hip-hop, just boring summaries.