#3 AI Developers Vs Content Creators

Training AI models requires 𝗺𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗮𝗺𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗮, often scraped from the web. But is all this online content truly 𝗳𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝘂𝘀𝗲? Microsoft Thinks So!

𝗘𝘅𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗟𝗮𝘄𝘀?
Copyright law protects original works of authorship, including content available on the internet. The "Fair Use" Doctrine allows limited use of copyrighted material without permission for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, or research. However, the determination of fair use depends on several factors, including the purpose and character of the use, the nature of the copyrighted work, the amount used, and the effect on the market value. U.S. Copyright Office Fair Use Index- https://lnkd.in/g_Qhyjqm

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗠𝗶𝗰𝗿𝗼𝘀𝗼𝗳𝘁 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀?
Mustafa Suleyman, Microsoft AI head, suggests that content available on the open web is fair game for training AI models unless explicitly restricted. He believes the norm since the 1990s has been that online content is essentially "freeware" for copying and reproduction. According to Suleyman, unless a publisher or news organization explicitly states "do not scrape or crawl," AI companies can use their content for training models.

𝗟𝗮𝘄𝘀𝘂𝗶𝘁𝘀 𝗔𝗴𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘀𝘁 𝗢𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗔𝗜 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗠𝗶𝗰𝗿𝗼𝘀𝗼𝗳𝘁?
Despite Suleyman's stance, several legal challenges have emerged. In May, eight American newspaper publishers, including major newspapers like the New York Daily News and the Chicago Tribune, sued Microsoft and OpenAI for unauthorized use of their articles in AI products. Additionally, the Center for Investigative Reporting (CIR) filed a lawsuit against these companies for using their copyrighted material without permission or compensation. Few examples-
https://lnkd.in/ggmRaRi2
https://lnkd.in/g7_ATivW
https://lnkd.in/gEpDjAft

𝗢𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗔𝗜'𝘀 𝗥𝗲𝗰𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽𝘀?
Amid these controversies, OpenAI has strategically completed partnerships with Financial Times, Stack Overflow, Reddit, News Corp, Vox Media, The Atlantic, Apple,Time

Our 𝗧𝗮𝗸𝗲?
Just because something is online doesn't mean it's freely for all uses to do anything with it. Existing lawsuits against OpenAI claim it used copyrighted material without permission, removed copyright info, reproduced and distributed works, and created unauthorized derivative works which can harm market value of the original work. This can not be ignored. While Microsoft's view on content use is surprisingly too simplistic given the sensitivity of the issue, I highly admire OpenAI's partnerships with major content providers showing a move towards more responsible and cooperative content use.