Process Post 8 – Generative AI

The rise of generative AI is definitely becoming an issue. After all, people are having their works collected and used in datasets without consent, and sometimes the works generated by AI may resemble another person’s work. Laws and legislation are already slow when it comes to adapting to new innovations on the internet, and AI is no exception.

Will there ever be a time when AI is decently regulated, and if so, what could it look like?

The Ideal

I would say the two most important parts concerning generative AI for me would be the input and the output. Input refers to how data is collected for the datasets used to train AI models, and output refers to the works generated by AI itself.

For the input, I would like to see that copyrighted works are protected from being used as part of AI datasets. It would essentially be an “opt-in” process, a method that allows the creator to consent to their work being used to train AI. Of course, this would greatly slow down the development and progress of AI, but it protects people and the works that they’ve created.

As for output, although not all AI-created works resemble or appear to plagiarize existing works, some do. And for cases such as those, there should be regulations in place to prevent those copies from benefiting in ways that undermine the original creator.

In fact, one question I think about is, should AI-generated works even be allowed to be used for commercial gain? If the collection of inputs for datasets is regulated such that the works collected for the datasets have been consented to or are available for use, then I suppose in that case it wouldn’t be problematic. However, if that isn’t the case, then there should be things in place that protect creators when an AI generates work that uses their works as source material in the dataset to create a work that resembles or plagiarizes their work.

Those are my 2 cents concerning generative AI. It’s certainly a doozy as there is much to consider, but if it’s approached with empathy-first in mind for creators, then I think that would be a good start.