AI and Copyright Law | Brantford Expositor

The convergence of artificial intelligence (AI) and copyright law has created a dynamic and complex issue that is gaining increasing attention.

The rapid rise of AI and its impact on intellectual property rights has raised many concerns about the interpretation and application of copyright law in this digital age. Key concerns include authorship, ownership, and the creative role of AI.

The first important issue concerns authors. Under current copyright law, only works created by humans are eligible for copyright protection. However, AI applications can now generate creative works such as paintings, music, and even text. Is the AI ​​that “created” the work itself qualified as an author? Or was it the developer who programmed the AI? These are questions that have yet to be answered definitively. Most jurisdictions now argue that non-human creations cannot be copyrighted, leaving a large portion of the growing AI-generated works in a gray area of ​​protection.

Second, the issue of ownership comes up. Traditional copyright law assigns rights to human authors or their employers, but for AI-generated works, determining ownership becomes a challenge. Are you the AI ​​programmer, the user who uses the AI, or the machine learning model that is fed the data to create your work, or the owner of the data on which the AI ​​is trained? The answer is not clear and different jurisdictions may interpret the issue differently, which can lead to conflicts of law and jurisdictional disputes.

Another important issue is the creative role of AI. AI can produce creative output, but it’s based on complex algorithms and extensive data input, rather than the depth of inspiration and emotion that human authors use. Additionally, AI applications often learn from existing works to generate new works. Does this constitute an infringement of the original author’s rights, especially if his AI’s work is a derivative or transformed work rather than a direct copy?The interpretation of the law in this area is still developing and many would need clarification.

Of course, it can be said that all creative people learn and hone their talents from their chosen craft masters. Writers are better off reading the classics, and artists are better off learning the craft of the masters, but the question arises as to how this differs from using the same works to train an artificial intelligence. .

It is clear that copyright only goes to human creators, but is this just a matter of artists and writers wanting money in the AI ​​revolution? The focus is on the ability to replace human actors in movies, which will be completely indistinguishable from real actors within just a few years.

Further complicating matters is that while advances in AI are rapid and pervasive, the pace of legislation and legislative change tends to be slow. The law has not yet caught up with the reality of AI capabilities, and courts are tackling these issues on a case-by-case basis, creating uncertainty and unpredictability.

The interaction of AI and copyright law raises many unresolved issues. Complex issues of authorship, ownership, and the creative role of AI force us to rethink traditional notions of creativity and authorship. To address these challenges and shape a balanced and just future of copyright law in the age of AI, the legal community, policy makers and technologists need to work together. This requires not only a comprehensive understanding of the nature and function of AI, but also a willingness to adapt the legal system to the evolving digital environment.

Tim Phillip has enjoyed science since he was old enough to read. Having worked in the technical field all his life, he shares his love of science with readers every week. You can contact him by email at tphilp@bfree.on.ca or by mail at The Expositor.