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| DATE | 2023-04-01 |
| FROM | Ruben Safir
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| SUBJECT | Subject: [Hangout - NYLXS] no copyright trolls and AI
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https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/world-news/humans-vs-machines-the-fight-to-copyright-ai-art/articleshow/99168801.cms
New copyright trolls and AI
economictimes.indiatimes.com
Humans vs. machines: The fight to copyright AI art
Reuters
7–9 minutes
Last year, Kris Kashtanova typed instructions for a graphic novel into a
new artificial-intelligence program and touched off a high-stakes debate
over who created the artwork: a human or an algorithm.
"Zendaya leaving gates of Central Park," Kashtanova entered into
Midjourney, an AI program similar to ChatGPT that produces dazzling
illustrations from written prompts. "Sci-fi scene future empty New York...."
From these inputs and hundreds more emerged "Zarya of the Dawn," an
18-page story about a character resembling the actress Zendaya who roams
a deserted Manhattan hundreds of years in the future. Kashtanova
received a copyright in September, and declared on social media that it
meant artists were entitled to legal protection for their AI art projects.
It didn't last long. In February, the U.S. Copyright Office suddenly
reversed itself, and Kashtanova became the first person in the country
to be stripped of legal protection for AI art. The images in "Zarya,"
the office said, were "not the product of human authorship." The office
allowed Kashtanova to keep a copyright in the arrangement and storyline.
Now, with the help of a high-powered legal team, the artist is testing
the limits of the law once again. For a new book, Kashtanova has turned
to a different AI program, Stable Diffusion, which lets users scan in
their own drawings and refine them with text prompts. The artist
believes that starting with original artwork will provide enough of a
"human" element to sway the authorities.
"It would be very strange if it's not copyrightable," said the
37-year-old artist of the latest work, an autobiographical comic.
A spokesperson for the copyright office declined to comment. Midjourney
also declined to comment, and Stability AI did not respond to requests
for comment.
SMASHING RECORDS
At a time when new AI programs like ChatGPT, Midjourney and Stable
Diffusion seem poised to transform human expression as they smash
records for user growth, the legal system still hasn't figured out who
owns the output -- the users, the owners of the programs, or maybe no
one at all.
Billions of dollars could hinge on the answer, legal experts said.
If users and owners of the new AI systems could get copyrights, they
would stand to reap huge benefits, said Ryan Merkley, the former chief
of Creative Commons, a U.S. organization that issues licenses to allow
creators to share their work.
For example, companies could use AI to produce and own the rights to
vast quantities of low-cost graphics, music, video and text for
advertising, branding and entertainment. "Copyright governing bodies are
going to be under enormous pressure to permit copyrights to be awarded
to computer-generated works," Merkley said.
In the U.S. and many other countries, anyone who engages in creative
expression usually has immediate legal rights to it. A copyright
registration creates a public record of the work and allows the owner to
go to court to enforce their rights.
Courts including the U.S. Supreme Court have long held that an author
has to be a human being. In rejecting legal protection for the "Zarya"
images, the U.S. Copyright Office cited rulings denying legal protection
for a selfie snapped by a curious monkey named Naruto and for a song
that the copyright applicant said had been composed by "the Holy Spirit."
One U.S. computer scientist, Stephen Thaler of Missouri, has maintained
that his AI programs are sentient and should be legally recognized as
the creators of artwork and inventions that they generated. He has sued
the U.S. Copyright Office, petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court and has a
patent case before the U.K. Supreme Court.
Meanwhile, many artists and companies that own creative content fiercely
oppose granting copyrights to AI owners or users. They argue that
because the new algorithms work by training themselves on vast
quantities of material on the open web, some of which is copyrighted,
the AI systems are gobbling up legally protected material without
permission.
Stock photo provider Getty Images, a group of visual artists and owners
of computer code have separately filed lawsuits against owners of AI
programs including Midjourney, Stability AI and ChatGPT developer OpenAI
for copyright infringement, which the companies deny. Getty and OpenAI
declined to comment.
Sarah Andersen, one of the artists, said granting copyrights to AI works
"would legitimize theft."
'HARD QUESTIONS'
Kashtanova is being represented for free by Morrison Foerster and its
veteran copyright lawyer Joe Gratz, who is also defending OpenAI in a
proposed class action brought on behalf of owners of copyrighted
computer code. The firm took on Kashtanova's case after an associate at
the firm, Heather Whitney, spotted a LinkedIn post by the artist seeking
legal help with a new application after the "Zarya" copyright was rejected.
"These are hard questions with significant consequences for all of us,"
Gratz said.
The Copyright Office said it reviewed Kashtanova's "Zarya" decision
after discovering the artist had posted on Instagram that the images
were created using AI, which it said was not clear in the original
September application. On March 16, it issued public guidance
instructing applicants to clearly disclose if their work was created
with the help of AI.
The guidance said the most popular AI systems likely do not create
copyrightable work, and "what matters is the extent to which the human
had creative control."
'COMPLETELY BLOWN'
Kashtanova, who identifies as nonbinary and uses "they/them" pronouns,
discovered Midjourney in August after the pandemic largely shut down
their work as a photographer at yoga retreats and extreme-sports events.
"My mind was completely blown," the artist said. Now, as AI technology
develops at lightning speed, Kashtanova has turned to newer tools that
allow users to input original work and give more specific commands to
control the output.
To test how much human control will satisfy the copyright office,
Kashtanova is planning to submit a series of copyright applications for
individual images chosen from the new autobiographical comic, each one
made with a different AI program, setting or method.
The artist, who now works at a start-up that uses AI to turn children's
drawings into comic books, created the first such image a few weeks ago,
titled "Rose Enigma."
Sitting at a computer in their one-bedroom Manhattan apartment,
Kashtanova demonstrated their latest technique: they pulled up on the
screen a simple pen-and-paper sketch they had scanned into Stable
Diffusion, and began refining it by adjusting settings and using text
prompts such as "young cyborg woman" and "flowers coming out of her head."
The result was an otherworldly image, the lower half of a woman's face
with long-stemmed roses replacing the upper part of her head. Kashtanova
submitted it for copyright protection on March 21.
The image will also appear in Kashtanova's new book. It's title: "For My
A.I. Community."
--
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that Brooklyn, like Atlantis, reaches mythological
proportions in the mind of the world - RI Safir 1998
http://www.mrbrklyn.com
DRM is THEFT - We are the STAKEHOLDERS - RI Safir 2002
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Being so tracked is for FARM ANIMALS and extermination camps,
but incompatible with living as a free human being. -RI Safir 2013
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