A bill introduced Tuesday in the US Congress seeks to force artificial intelligence companies to disclose the copyrighted material they use to make their generative AI models. The legislation adds to a growing number of attempts by lawmakers, media outlets and artists to establish how artificial intelligence companies use creative works such as songs, visual art, books and movies to train their software, and whether those companies are illegally building their tools from copyrighted content. .
California Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff introduced the bill, the Generative AI Copyright Disclosure Act, that would require AI companies to submit any copyrighted work in their training data sets to the Registry. of Copyright before launching new generative AI systems, which create text, images and music. or video in response to user prompts. The bill would require companies to submit such documents at least 30 days before publicly introducing their AI tools, or face a financial penalty. These data sets span billions of lines of text and images or millions of hours of music and movies.
“AI has the disruptive potential to change our economy, our political system and our daily lives. “We must balance the immense potential of AI with the crucial need for ethical guidelines and protections,” Schiff said in a statement.
The fact that major artificial intelligence companies, valued in the billions, have made illegal use of copyrighted works is increasingly a source of litigation and government investigations. Schiff’s bill would not ban AI training on copyrighted material, but it would place considerable responsibility on companies to list the enormous amount of work they use to create tools like ChatGPT, data that is typically kept private.
Schiff’s bill, which was the first reported by billboardhas received support from numerous entertainment industry organizations and unions, including the Recording Industry Association of America, Professional Photographers of America, Directors Guild of America, and Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists.
“Everything generated by AI ultimately originates from a human creative source. That is why human creative content – intellectual property – must be protected,” said Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, national executive director and chief negotiator of SAG-AFTRA.
Prominent artificial intelligence companies like OpenAI are facing lawsuits over their alleged use of copyrighted works to create tools like ChatGPT. Both Sarah Silverman and the New York Times have filed copyright infringement lawsuits against the startup. OpenAI hired a large number of top lawyers last year, according to the Washington Postas it prepares to face more than a dozen major lawsuits.
OpenAI and other AI companies have denied wrongdoing and stated that their use of copyrighted material falls under fair use, a legal doctrine that allows some unlicensed use of copyrighted materials under certain conditions. . The legal strategy poses a major test for copyright law, and the result could ruin artists’ livelihoods or OpenAI’s bottom line. In a submission to a UK government committee earlier this year, OpenAI’s lawyers argued that “legally, copyright law does not prohibit training.” OpenAI also stated in that presentation that without access to copyrighted works, its tools would stop working.
As generative AI companies have expanded the capabilities of their tools, entertainment industry workers have also rejected the technology and its potential threat to artists’ rights. Last week, a group of more than 200 high-profile music artists published an open letter calling for greater protections against AI and demanding that companies not develop tools that could undermine or replace musicians and songwriters.