These days, you can easily find yourself facing a copyright infringement case if you use text-to-image generators like DALL•E 3 or Midjourney to create images. An innocent claim can make a very familiar face appear, and if you continue to use it, you may be violating copyright laws.
Gary Marcus, Founder and CEO of Geometric Intelligence is somewhat of an AI expert. His column, Marcus on artificial intelligence Dedicated to dissecting and discussing the controversies, advantages, and advances in artificial intelligence. He recently began experimenting with Reed Southin, a concept artist, illustrator, and designer who has worked on The Matrix, Transformers, The Hunger Games, and Marvel films.
On a mission to prove how easy it is for image-to-text generators to recreate iconic characters that other artists have “accidentally” created, the duo fed Midjourney a series of prompts such as “video game hedgehog” and “animated toys.” On both occasions, DALL•E brought out four very familiar images of characters from Sonic the Hedgehog and Toy Story. In neither case does Marcus identify these characters, but given how image generators search the Internet for information, they produce transgressive works of art.
It's not just a problem for image makers either; New York times It recently filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft, accusing the companies of wrongly using newspaper articles without permission to train their AI chatbots. Founded in 1851, New York times It is one of the oldest newspapers still published. Although sales of physical copies have declined, the outlet still invests huge sums of money in well-researched journalism and reporting both in print and online.
New York times The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Manhattan, making it the first major US media organization to oppose ChatGPT. Not only is the company looking for damages, it also wants to ensure writers are protected in the future by prohibiting chatbots from being trained on its data.
In response to the lawsuit, OpenAI issued a statement acknowledging the concerns and affirming its commitment to addressing them. “We take these legal challenges seriously and are reviewing our information sourcing practices to ensure compliance with all relevant laws and regulations.”
Legal experts suggest that OpenAI's case may hinge on whether the organization is able to prove that its methods for obtaining information comply with copyright laws and privacy regulations. If OpenAI is found to be violating these rules, it could face significant financial penalties and damage to its reputation.
The outcome of these legal battles could have broader implications for the field of artificial intelligence, particularly regarding how organizations obtain and use data from the Internet. As the lawsuits unfold, the technology community will be watching closely to see how OpenAI handles these legal challenges and whether they lead to changes in industry practices regarding information sources for AI models.
AI technology is increasingly coming into the best photo editing software. A good or bad thing?
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