Copyright x AI
I've been working with Design & Artists Copyright Society in the UK as part of a working group to help form a response to the UK government’s AI & Copyright Consultation.
Our government is seeking to change decades-established copyright law in the face of the rapid and unchecked growth of AI. We have a very short timeframe in which to object - February 25th, 2025.
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Copyright is a human right enshrined in law by the Berne Convention. It is the mechanism by which millions of people are able to earn a living through their creative works, through royalties, licensing, resale, and the protections that copyright gives from plagiarism and IP theft.
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A lot of technical and logistical detail has been explored in these sessions in terms of possible models for a way forward that doesn’t impact current copyright law, while acknowledging that what we’re doing is akin to negotiating with the school bully AFTER he’s taken your lunch money.
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Here are some resources to help you make sense of what's happening, and what you can do.
The Copyright, Designs & Patents Act of 1988
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright,_Designs_and_Patents_Act_1988
Establishes that copyright in most works is automatic at the point of creation and lasts until 70 years after the death of the creator if known, otherwise 70 years after the work was created or published
What artists need to know
https://www.dacs.org.uk/news-events/copyright-and-artificial-intelligence-consultation-what-visual-artists-and-rightsholders-need-to-know
Understand the facts of what is being proposed and the potential impact.
The UK government's open consultation
https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/copyright-and-artificial-intelligence/copyright-and-artificial-intelligence
It's wordy as hell - but well laid out and clear - grit your teeth and try and get through it if you can!
Have Your Say
https://ipoconsultations.citizenspace.com/ipo/consultation-on-copyright-and-ai/
"The unlicensed use of creative works for training generative AI is a major, unjust threat to the livelihoods of the people behind those works, and must not be permitted.”
Sign this STATEMENT on AI TRAINING
https://www.aitrainingstatement.org/
"The unlicensed use of creative works for training generative AI is a major, unjust threat to the livelihoods of the people behind those works, and must not be permitted.”
Object to the government's proposed copyright exemption for AI training
on this google docs form
Have your say, before 25th February. The objection, representing the approximate 2.4million creative workers in the UK, demands transparency and a strong copyright regime that safeguards the livelihood of freelance workers and the vitality of human creativity.
See if your work has been used to train AI models
https://haveibeentrained.com/
If so, you can choose to opt these images out. It's not perfect, but it's a start, and built by some very good people working for years at the interface of artificial intelligence and creativity.
Read about a prototype registry of Public Domain and open-licensed works
https://openfuture.eu/blog/open-future-launches-commonsdb/
An initiative funded by the European Commission, to create a prototype registry of public domain and openly licensed works. The CommonsDB registry will enable users to verify the rights status of content from multiple sources.
Have a look through The Association of Illustrators' resources on AI
https://theaoi.com/resources/professional-practice/artificial-intelligence-updates/
The AOI have been thorough and relentless in keeping abreast of developments in real time.
Delving deeper: Tools for developers
Developer tools to make it easy and efficient to filter do-not-train requests. Spawning’s Data Diligence package and API surface all machine-readable rights reservation methods and keeps developers in compliance with the EU’s TDM Copyright Exceptions.
Read my thoughts on AI, in this series of articles
https://inkymole.substack.com/
TL;DR: I'm not anti-AI. I've used artificial intelligence for years in the form of Photoshop tools, and in shopping, translation, voice recognition, ID verification and myriad more ways that are hidden in plain sight. I want AI to fix my shortsightedness, find cancer cells, refine chemistry and physics and environmental protections and in all the ways it can, have its phenomenal power harnessed by and for humans - not against them.
No; this page is about the use of generative AI and its training entirely on existing creative works.
I refer to you Isaac Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics:
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A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
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A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
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A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.