This requires a legislative solution...
Well that may be a bit hasty, and other developments in the week ended September 24, 2022
Updates
“This requires a legislative solution…” Maybe first, let’s take a breath…
Writer and media consultant Rob Salkowitz put together a must-read for Forbes.
The article tackles the legal uncertainty question head on. It quotes art director James Juan: “‘On the business side, we need some clarity around copyright before using AI-generated work instead of work by a human artist,’ said Juan. ‘The problem is, the current copyright law is outdated and is not keeping up with the technology.’”
Copyright insiders will see it differently: the doctrine of fair use gives a pretty well-tested way of applying copyright law to new technologies. It’s just that these new AI tools may not pass the fair use test.
Somewhat alarmingly, the article also quotes a White House AI official sounding shocked and surprised by the way that LLMs are trained, which has been pretty well-known for many years, and raised as a copyright law issue at the Berkman Klein Center back in 2017 at least. Data scientist Daniela Braga sits on the White House Task Force for AI Policy, and she is cited as saying: “They’re training the AI on his work without his consent? I need to bring that up to the White House office…If these models have been trained on the styles of living artists without licensing that work, there are copyright implications. There are rules for that. This requires a legislative solution.”
Getty bans AI-generated images over copyright concerns
From The Verge:
The article quotes a statement from Getty Images CEO Greg Peters “‘There are real concerns with respect to the copyright of outputs from these models and unaddressed rights issues with respect to the imagery, the image metadata and those individuals contained within the imagery,’ said Peters. Given these concerns, he said, selling AI artwork or illustrations could potentially put Getty Images users at legal risk. ‘We are being proactive to the benefit of our customers,’ he added.”
They are not the only image platform to do so, but clearly when a commercial heavyweight like Getty weighs in like this it should be a matter of concern to the LLM operators.
The New York Times: What’s missing when we talk about AI?
This was published more than a week ago, but since this the first edition of the newsletter, I will point to it. Kevin Roose of The New York Times — he of the first AI-authored book review in the Grey Lady — used WALL-E2 as the lead-in to a discussion of the massive leap in AI capabilities over the last year or so. He made the key point that we need to move AI up on the agenda for public discussion, and find more informed ways to talk about it, and quickly.
Indeed, that’s why I’ve started this send out these emails!
New Products or Services built on LLMs and other models
Just a few of the products launched or updated on ProductHunt recently
Midjourney
Create AI generated images from a text prompt - https://www.midjourney.com/home
“Midjourney lets you create images (paintings, digital art, logos and much more) simply by writing a prompt. Try to prompt it and check the instant results!”
Midjourney is in extended beta for some time, and has been attracting a lot of attention, not least for the way it was used by Jason Allen to create an award-winning digital artwork in August. But it was launched on ProductHunt on September 18, 2022.
Charlie 2.0
AI content creation for everyone - https://GoCharlie.ai
“Charlie is your new best friend for creating content. He can generate HD, 2K, 4K, Widescreen, Vertical and square images. In addition, he can create highly engaging blogs and other text content for branding and marketing needs.”
Who needs troublesome writers when you can have a friendly AI robot dog cartoon to do all that hard work for you…
Tribescaler
Write better hooks in seconds, make your tweets go viral - https://tribescaler.com/
“Your own writing assistant and personal collaborator. Powered by AI to write better & faster. Create viral hooks and headlines in seconds”
My Twitter game could definitely use an upgrade!
RoEx Automix
AI powered music production and distribution tool - https://automix.roexaudio.com/
“Freemium service for musicians, producers and content creators to mix their content quickly and professionally using AI. Allowing them to easily distribute on platforms like Spotify, Bandcamp or Soundcloud.”
Not sure this is built on an LMM, but just to show that this is moving so fast in music as well as text and images.