Technology

The argument about a photograph being copyrightable, even if made by a machine, because a photographer has chosen pose, lighting, lens settings etc., becomes extremely elastic as AI outputs become more steerable: “put a lamp here, turn the light on, make it cosier” etc.

Is it actually the prompt-chain that is copyrightable?

It gets very confusing, very very fast.

What is there to prove that a piece of artwork was or wasn’t made by AI? Within a few years, it will be nigh impossible to tell when AI helped or wholly created a piece, and this will effectively stop no one. It’s a bandaid on a hemorrhage. It’s a very helpful bandaid, but by fuck can someone grab the sutures already?

I didn't read the article but does it say anything about detectability? If I claim I created it who can prove an AI did?

If a capitalist had an AI that learned Syd Mead's work output many Syd Mead-like illustrations for publication, he would be sued by fans to protect Syd Mead's copyright. But if the same thing were done by an AI that learned the work of a new artist who admired Syd Mead and honed his skills, who would protect the new artist?

It's nice to see this starting to get tested in court.

I doubt this will really upset "Hollywood Studios" too much, though. They are unlikely to be creating entire productions using ML techniques, and instead using it for smaller parts of an overall production. It seems like e.g. generating a voice or image for one part of a film would not invalidate copyright on other parts of the work or of the overall work taken together.

Film studios also rely on other non-copyright protections such as trademarks to dissuade derivative works.

I think the bigger test will be: is it copyright infringement to use a work as part of a training set for a model? It's all very well saying that the output is not copyrightable, but there's still a big question about the input.