{"id":34631,"date":"2023-09-27T09:25:26","date_gmt":"2023-09-27T07:25:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bpcc.org.pl\/?p=34631"},"modified":"2023-10-04T18:24:26","modified_gmt":"2023-10-04T16:24:26","slug":"unmasking-the-ai-copyright-challenge-reflections-on-ai-laws-and-lawsuits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev2.bpcc.org.pl\/pl\/unmasking-the-ai-copyright-challenge-reflections-on-ai-laws-and-lawsuits\/","title":{"rendered":"Unmasking the AI copyright challenge: reflections on AI laws and lawsuits"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"34631\" class=\"elementor elementor-34631\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-251cc992 elementor-section-content-middle elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"251cc992\" data-element_type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-33 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-29202836\" data-id=\"29202836\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-aea3754 elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"aea3754\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t<style>\/*! elementor - v3.14.0 - 26-06-2023 *\/\n.elementor-widget-image{text-align:center}.elementor-widget-image a{display:inline-block}.elementor-widget-image a img[src$=\".svg\"]{width:48px}.elementor-widget-image img{vertical-align:middle;display:inline-block}<\/style>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/dev2.bpcc.org.pl\/wp-content\/uploads\/elementor\/thumbs\/JDP-foto-rqcxbculv0zno2ogo5f2cucmoexmifs22fsul407wg.png\" title=\"JDP foto\" alt=\"JDP foto\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-33 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-7401c2b\" data-id=\"7401c2b\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-6ba929cc elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"6ba929cc\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t<style>\/*! elementor - v3.14.0 - 26-06-2023 *\/\n.elementor-widget-text-editor.elementor-drop-cap-view-stacked .elementor-drop-cap{background-color:#69727d;color:#fff}.elementor-widget-text-editor.elementor-drop-cap-view-framed .elementor-drop-cap{color:#69727d;border:3px solid;background-color:transparent}.elementor-widget-text-editor:not(.elementor-drop-cap-view-default) .elementor-drop-cap{margin-top:8px}.elementor-widget-text-editor:not(.elementor-drop-cap-view-default) .elementor-drop-cap-letter{width:1em;height:1em}.elementor-widget-text-editor .elementor-drop-cap{float:left;text-align:center;line-height:1;font-size:50px}.elementor-widget-text-editor .elementor-drop-cap-letter{display:inline-block}<\/style>\t\t\t\t<strong>By Ewa Mo\u0144dziel, senior associate and Amelia Prawda, associate, JDP Law<\/strong>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-33 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-5bb2805e\" data-id=\"5bb2805e\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-3a3f417e elementor-absolute elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"3a3f417e\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-settings=\"{&quot;_position&quot;:&quot;absolute&quot;}\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"500\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/dev2.bpcc.org.pl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/jdp_logo_pole.png\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-image-25625\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/dev2.bpcc.org.pl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/jdp_logo_pole.png 500w, https:\/\/dev2.bpcc.org.pl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/jdp_logo_pole-300x180.png 300w, https:\/\/dev2.bpcc.org.pl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/jdp_logo_pole-440x264.png 440w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-839b2d9 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"839b2d9\" data-element_type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-0566cac\" data-id=\"0566cac\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-c83a9c5 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"c83a9c5\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>\u00a0<\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p>In 2023, generative AI (GenAI) is one of the highlights of modern legal challenges. What we want to address is that GenAI has, at the root of its effectiveness, the training of an algorithm responsible for generating outputs on a specific dataset selected by the developer. For this reason, it requires large amounts of training data, and some of this data may be protected by third-party rights.<\/p><p>The main private-law questions surrounding GenAI touch on copyright issues: Are developers and users of GenAI solutions copyright infringers? Can using works protected by copyright for training GenAI models lead to copyright infringement? What does it mean for authors of copyrightable works? Does copyright protect AI-assisted output?<\/p><p><strong>Do AI regulations address copyright issues?<\/strong><\/p><p>EU laws can answer some of the legal challenges AI brings. One of them is <span style=\"color: #993300;\"><a style=\"color: #993300;\" href=\"https:\/\/eur-lex.europa.eu\/eli\/dir\/2019\/790\/oj\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the Directive on copyright and related rights in the Digital Single Market<\/a><\/span> (the \u2018Directive\u2019), which touches upon text and data mining (TDM), a technique automating the analysis and extraction of information from large datasets. TDM techniques are being used to train GenAI models. As copyright law may complicate TDM use, the Directive introduced two exceptions to enable TDM in Articles 3 and 4, respectively: use for scientific research and, unless the rightsholder objects, for other purposes, e.g. commercial.<\/p><p>The rise of GenAI made EU lawmakers review the still processed <span style=\"color: #993300;\"><a style=\"color: #993300;\" href=\"https:\/\/eur-lex.europa.eu\/legal-content\/EN\/TXT\/?uri=celex%3A52021PC0206\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">proposal for a Regulation laying down harmonised rules on artificial intelligence<\/a><\/span> (the \u2018AI Act\u2019), being the first extensive framework for the use of AI. The<span style=\"color: #993300;\"> <a style=\"color: #993300;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.europarl.europa.eu\/doceo\/document\/TA-9-2023-0236_EN.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">outcome of the EU Parliament\u2019s work<\/a> on<\/span> the AI Act is that GenAI would have to comply with transparency requirements, one of them being to document and publish sufficiently detailed summaries of copyrighted training data. This requirement could be helpful for copyright holders in the case of unlawful use of their work. However, it remains unclear how exactly such a summary should look and whether it is technically feasible for AI developers. An agreement on the final wording of the AI Act is to be reached by the end of this year.<\/p><p><strong>What copyright issues do developers of GenAI face?<\/strong><\/p><p>Recent litigation over GenAI models often involves copyright infringement by using copyrighted data in training without the authors\u2019 permission or in violation of licensing terms.<\/p><p>Authors Mona Awad and Paul Tremblay have <span style=\"color: #993300;\"><a style=\"color: #993300;\" href=\"https:\/\/llmlitigation.com\/pdf\/03223\/tremblay-openai-complaint.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">filed a lawsuit<\/a><\/span> against OpenAI, alleging copyright infringement. They base their claim on the fact that ChatGPT generated accurate summaries of their books, which, according to these authors, demonstrates that OpenAI might have used books from illegal shadow libraries to train its GenAI model. However, proving this may be challenging. ChatGPT could have drawn from various online sources, not just the authors\u2019 books or derivative works. Similarly, in AI-generated art, <span style=\"color: #993300;\"><a style=\"color: #993300;\" href=\"https:\/\/copyrightlately.com\/pdfviewer\/getty-images-v-stability-ai-complaint\/?auto_viewer=true#page=&amp;zoom=auto&amp;pagemode=none\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Getty Images is suing Stability AI<\/a><\/span>, the creator of Stable Diffusion, for copyright infringement, alleging that it copied millions of images to train its AI model without permission or compensation.<\/p><p>In turn, in the software field, <span style=\"color: #993300;\"><a style=\"color: #993300;\" href=\"https:\/\/githubcopilotlitigation.com\/pdf\/06823\/1-0-github_complaint.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a group of programmers sued Microsoft, GitHub and OpenAI<\/a><\/span> for violating the open-source licensing by not crediting the authors of the source code that Copilot, an open-source software repository, has been trained on. According to the plaintiffs, the \u201cDefendants stripped Plaintiffs\u2019 (\u2026) attribution, copyright notice, and license terms from their code in violation of the Licenses\u201d. They claim that Copilot\u2019s goal is to replace open source by copying it and keeping it behind a paywall, thus monetising the code.<\/p><p>Non-profit media organisation <span style=\"color: #993300;\"><a style=\"color: #993300;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2023\/08\/16\/1194202562\/new-york-times-considers-legal-action-against-openai-as-copyright-tensions-swirl\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">NPR reports<\/a><\/span> that the <em>New York Times<\/em> is considering suing OpenAI &#8220;to protect the intellectual property rights associated with its reporting&#8221;. Apparently, the two parties have been negotiating a licensing agreement granting the Times royalties for incorporating its data in AI solutions, but to no avail.<\/p><p>Although the described lawsuits take place mainly in the US, their outcome might impact copyright laws not only in the US but also in other parts of the world in the context of the concerns surrounding GenAI.<\/p><p><strong>Is it \u2018fair\u2019 to use someone else&#8217;s copyrighted work to train GenAI?<\/strong><\/p><p>The question in many legal battles is of fair use. Should it be considered &#8216;fair&#8217; to use copyrighted data to train a model? What happens when the model is used for commercial purposes?<\/p><p>The <span style=\"color: #993300;\"><a style=\"color: #993300;\" href=\"https:\/\/cases.justia.com\/federal\/appellate-courts\/ca2\/13-4829\/13-4829-2015-10-16.pdf?ts=1445005805\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Authors Guild v. Google, Inc.<\/a><\/span> case (the Google Books case) might be relevant in emerging lawsuits in the USA. The court ruled that Google was protected by the fair use doctrine because its use of the copyrighted works was transformative, making information about the books available without substituting them.<\/p><p>What the European courts will decide under the Directive is yet to be seen when similar claims arise. While Article 4 provides the tool to defend against such claims, it also has been criticised as leaving insufficient leeway for TDM users. In Poland, the provisions implementing this article still need to be implemented.<\/p><p><strong>Does copyright protect AI responses?<\/strong><\/p><p>Another topic surrounding GenAI is whether the AI\u2019s response to the user\u2019s prompt can be considered copyrightable. In the Tremblay v. OpenAI case, the plaintiffs argue that every output from ChatGPT is an infringing derivative work because it relies on expressive information from their works, violating their copyright.<\/p><p>The EU copyright law protects the author of a work, being a human and not an AI-driven machine. Would, therefore, AI-generated works be subject to copyright? The simple answer might be: no, because they are not a human creation. But shouldn&#8217;t the answer depend on how far the prompt affects the outcome? It seems possible that GenAI, or at least some of its models, could be seen as a creative tool fulfilling the artistic intent of its user, thus bringing the outcome closer to a copyrighted work.<\/p><p><strong>What to expect at the intersection of copyright and AI?<\/strong><\/p><p>It seems that the way in which AI solutions are used will be of unwavering interest, above all from those whose work can be exploited this way. Now, creators focus on the use of works by AI developers. However, an aspect that its users should be mindful of is the risk of using, e.g., whole passages from copyrighted works in an AI-generated output, which the user may not even be aware of. Further use of such text may have legal consequences for the user.<\/p><p>Interestingly, one of the biggest AI developers, Microsoft, is willing to assume \u201dresponsibility for the potential legal risks involved\u201d if users are challenged on copyright grounds when using Copilot\u2019s output, as per <span style=\"color: #993300;\"><a style=\"color: #993300;\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.microsoft.com\/on-the-issues\/2023\/09\/07\/copilot-copyright-commitment-ai-legal-concerns\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Microsoft\u2019s announcement of its new \u2018Copilot Copyright Commitment\u2019 on 7 September 2023<\/a><\/span>. At the time of submitting this text for publication, it seems to be unclear how Microsoft&#8217;s guardrails and filters work. Whether other AI developers will follow such an assumption of legal responsibility is yet to be observed.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Ewa Mo\u0144dziel, senior associate and Amelia Prawda, associate, JDP Law In 2023, generative AI (GenAI) is one of the highlights of modern legal challenges. What we want to address is that GenAI has, at the root of its effectiveness, the training of an algorithm responsible for generating outputs on a specific dataset selected by [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32295,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[76],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[1012],"class_list":["post-34631","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-contact-magazine","author-jdp","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"acf":[],"authors":[{"term_id":1012,"user_id":0,"is_guest":1,"slug":"jdp","display_name":"JDP","avatar_url":{"url":"https:\/\/dev2.bpcc.org.pl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/jdp_logo_pole.png","url2x":"https:\/\/dev2.bpcc.org.pl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/jdp_logo_pole.png"},"first_name":"","last_name":"","user_url":"","description":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev2.bpcc.org.pl\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34631","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev2.bpcc.org.pl\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev2.bpcc.org.pl\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev2.bpcc.org.pl\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev2.bpcc.org.pl\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34631"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/dev2.bpcc.org.pl\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34631\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37201,"href":"https:\/\/dev2.bpcc.org.pl\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34631\/revisions\/37201"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev2.bpcc.org.pl\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev2.bpcc.org.pl\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev2.bpcc.org.pl\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev2.bpcc.org.pl\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34631"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev2.bpcc.org.pl\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=34631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}