Bertelsmann CEO Thomas Rabe said generative AI could be “a huge plus” for the creative industry if it “understands its potential and threats.”
Speaking with financial timesRabe said that while there are “big questions” about copyright protection, the technology is “well balanced…perhaps more opportunities.” Bertelsmann is the parent company of the publisher Penguin Random House (PRH).
Rabe said using the work of well-known authors and artists as input for software to create new content is being investigated by the company’s legal experts because it “could constitute copyright infringement.” said. But he also argued that the proliferation of AI-generated books and articles of varying quality would increase the value of works from respected sources. He said there are even opportunities for creators to increase output by feeding previous outputs into the software to generate new content. “That’s my copyrighted content, and if I use it to train the software, I can theoretically generate content that’s never been seen before.”
He also revealed that ChatGPT was used to prepare staff events at the PRH office in Munich. “He asked ChatGPT about the impact of ChatGPT or generative AI on publishing. They provided an amazing text. Frankly, it was pretty detailed and to the point,” he said.
