this post was submitted on 26 Jan 2024
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I already know I'm going to be downvoted all to hell, but just putting it out there that neural networks aren't just copy pasting. If a talented artist replicates a picture of the joker almost perfectly, they are applauded. If an AI does it, that's bad? Why are humans allowed to be "inspired" by copyrighted material, but AIs aren't?
Because the original Joker design is not just something that occurred in nature, out of nowhere. It was created by another artist(s) who don't get credit or compensation for their work.
When YouTube "essayists" cobble script together by copy pasting paragraphs and changing some words around and then then earn money off the end product with zero attribution, we all agree it's wrong. Corporations doing the same to images are no different.
But of course you can't turn around and sell that picture of the Joker that you made. That's obvious.
The problem in here is that while the Joker is a pretty recognizable cultural icon, somebody using an AI may have genuinely original idea for an image that just happens to have been independently developed by someone before. As a result, the AI can produce an image that's a copy or close reproduction of an original artwork without disclosing its similarity to the source material. The new "author" then will unknowingly rip off the original.
The prompts to reproduce joker and other superhero movies were quite specific, but asking for "Animated Sponge" is pretty innocent. It is not unthinkable that someone may not be familiar with Mr. Squarepants and think they developed an original character using AI
That's a good point. Musicians have been known to accidentally reproduce the same beat as another musician (was is done subconsciously or just coincidence?). Some books are strikingly similar to other books that it makes you wonder if it was a rip off or just coincidence. So it's nothing new, but it may become more prevalent with AI. This could spawn a new industry of investigators ensuring your AI generated art isn't infringing on any copyrights 🤔
It's on the person using any AI tools to verify that they aren't infringing on anything if they try to market/sell something generated by these tools.
That goes for using ChatGPT just as much as it goes for Midjourney/Dall-E 3, tools that create music, etc.
And you're absolutely right, this is going to be a problem more and more for anyone using AI Tools and I'm curious to see how that will factor in to future lawsuits.
I could see some new factor for fair use being raised in court, or else taking this into account under one of the pre-existing factors.
This might be the best point I've seen around this topic -- have not seen this addressed before.
Tons of human made art isn't inspired by nature. Rather it's inspired by other human made art. Neural networks don't just copy paste like a yt plagiarist. You can ask an AI to plagiarize but no guarantee it'll get it right.
I think the problem is that you cannot ask AI not to plagiarize. I love the potential of AI and use it a lot in my sketching and ideation work. I am very wary of publicly publishing a lot of it though, since, especially recently, the models seem to be more and more at ease producing ethically questionable content.
That's an interesting point. We're forced to make a judgement call because we don't have total control over what it generates.
you aren't making any sense. people did fanarts and memes of the joker movie like crazy, they were all over the internet. there are tons and tons of fan arts of copyrighted material.
they fall under fair use and no one losses money because fan arts can't be used for commercial purposes, that would fall outside fair use and copyright holders will sue, of course.
how is that different from the AI generating an image containing copyrighted material? if someone started generating images of the joker and then selling them, yeah, sue the fuck out of them. but generating it without any commercial purpose is not illegal at all.
In many cases the AI company is "selling you" the image by making users pay for the use of the generator. Sure, there are free options, too - but just giving you an example.
With that line of argument you can sue developers of 2d painting programmes and producers of graphics tablets. And producers of canvas, brushes and paint. Maybe even the landlord for renting out a studio? It's all means of production.
You make an interesting point, but I can't help but feel it's not completely the same and you're reaching a bit. I feel like it'd be closer if GIMP, next to shape tools for squares and circles, literally had a 'Joaquin Phoenix as the Joker' shape. The crux of the issue as I see it in this part of the legal debate is whether or not AI companies are willing participants in the creation of potentially copyright infringing media.
It reminds me a bit of the debate around social media platforms and if they're legally responsible for the illegal or inappropriate content people keep uploading.
So you watched that Hbomberguy video where he randomly tacked on being wrong about AI in every way, using unsourced, uncited claims that have nothing to do with Somerton or that Illuminaughti chick and will age extremely poorly and made that your entire worldview? Okay
Actually no, but thanks for letting me know, I like his content.
Because AI isn't inspired to do anything it has no feelings its just code.
Why are feelings important?
That's why I put inspired in quotes. It's analogous to a human seeing something on the Internet and coming up with similar art or building upon it.
To me the tipping point is if someone is getting paid. You can be inspired by the joker character and make your own content/characters that are similar, but you can't just start making iterations of the joker and selling it for money (legally at least).
With Gen AI, companies are selling access to models that can and are being used to generate copyrighted material. Meaning these companies are making money off of something they didn't create and don't own.
If it's an open sourced model, then I don't care, but I think there is a problem when these models can take others work and charge money for it.
I think the onus is on the user of the AI. I could use Photoshop to make a joker pic and sell it for money. Should Photoshop be banned? The AI lets me do the same thing faster.
And that's probably we're things will land, but it is an interesting grey area to determine how much can the tool generate vs the person. Maybe it's a glimpse into the challenges of a post scarcity or post ai world.