Ethics and Copyright Laws in AI-Generated Content – Our Culture

One of the biggest questions among writers these days is that of ethics and the use of AI. While artificial intelligence can certainly be used as an extremely useful tool simply to help bring out the best in our own intellectual capabilities, the issue of copyright is a serious one. How do we know when someone’s work is their own?

This is a major question not only for the academic community, but indeed for everyone. The medical profession is using AI, industries of all sorts…there is virtually no area of our lives that is untouched by it. So it is worthwhile to break down what exactly the issue is on different levels, and what efforts are being made to manage it worldwide.

A thorny issue

There are so many points involved in the question of copyright infringement that it is difficult to know where to begin. In the US, material that strictly comes from AI is not subject to copyright – even if that AI ultimately gets its content from authors. And, of course, data has to come from somewhere, so it ultimately does lead back to other people.

To really be effective in targeting the data chain, what we need to do is go back to the data that were used to train AI models. But this too is complicated, and legislation needs to be in place before targeted efforts can take place. Content can be anything from academic manuscripts to videos to stories generated through Talefy – it is all the same process.

What exactly is at stake?

To adequately address the question of authenticity, we need to break down what exactly the components are that are involved in the use of AI-generated materials. What exactly are the legal challenges involved?

For the purposes of simplification, we will break down the issues into three major components:

• The question of authorship in general. As AI acts on its own, what does this mean for the question of authorship overall? Do we need to go back to our etymological foundations to draw up a new definition of the word? Perhaps we do, given that the technology doesn’t seem to be covered by our existing language capacity.
• The question of “fair use.” If a writer takes material from AI, how much different is that from citing a source in an academic paper? There is a question of the ability to cite, of course. And this is something that academics need to work on if they are to keep up with the pace of things. Particularly considering the fact that AI itself draws information from various sources, the question seems to get thornier and thornier.
• The question of a possible global standard for guidelines. Society being what it is these days, everything crosses national borders. Most academics believe that whatever standards we create must adhere to the same guidelines, regardless of location, institution, or language.

Additional considerations

Beyond the need for standards in copyright law, there are other things that we must take into consideration with regard to the use of AI-generated content. For one thing, privacy can be a major issue. Once information gets out in the open, it is a free game for anyone that wants access to it. There used to be clear ways of targeting this and enforcing policies that mandated privacy in some cases. But we are losing our grasp with the free flow of AI.

Bias is another consideration. While AI might seem to encompass everything there is to know in the world, it is hardly the case that generating material on certain subjects will provide unbiased answers. Particularly – but not only – when it comes to controversial subjects such as politics and religion, searches often provide content that reflects the most popular news sources. And this can be far from objective.

What is being done now?

Efforts are certainly underway in many countries to create and enforce laws that will protect copyrights in writing and other content. But a lot of work is still needed:

• The United States does not yet have federal legislation in place with regard to AI and copyright laws. While relevant governmental bodies such as the US Copyright Office have been discussing the issue, so far it has only amounted to individual reports.
• The European Union enacted a directive and AI Act in 2019 that focused on transparency and control with regard to the use of content copyrighted from AI systems.
• China has enacted regulations that aim to control copyright of AI-generated material, although regulations are still in their early stages and are still of a general nature.

These are examples of individual countries and regions, of course, and to really come up with solid legislation the countries of the world will need to act together. There are currently international groups, such as the World Intellectual Property Organization and the US-EU Trade and Technology Council, that have initiated dialog about more cooperative efforts. But more needs to be done to effect real change.

It is a long road, but a necessary one

All of this makes clear the point that there is a lot of work to be done. Especially given the fear that AI will eventually spin out of control and supersede human intellectual capacity, relevant people and governmental bodies need to stay on top of things so as to try to keep pace with the growth of AI. For academics and educators, there are particular challenges. Until we come up with the correct frameworks for legislation, our efforts will continue to be piecemeal. But we will continue working at it until we get there.