AI (artificial intelligence) is not new, it is actively used, for example, when creating intelligence for characters in video games, or we can mention Siri, which is able to use voice recognition to search for information on the Internet. Or, for example, Tesla autopilot, which is able to recognize and respond to traffic situations. Tesla autopilot has proven itself well after many videos on the Internet, where Tesla drivers were able to prevent accidents on the road by using autopilot.
However, with the emergence of ChatGPT and Midjourney, which have been in the news for almost a year now and are gaining more and more popularity every day, we can see a tremendous increase in people’s interest in using AI and an increase in the number of similar projects, both paid and free of charge. Thus, the more popular a project becomes, the more companies are interested in its development. Let’s recall how Microsoft recently invested $100 billion in OpenAI and continues to look for new projects and opportunities to develop.
The main question is whether it is possible to obtain copyright (or patent protection) for an object created by artificial intelligence (AI)?
Let’s analyze AI on the example of Midjourney
Midjourney is a neural network that creates images based on user requests.
This allows people without any special knowledge of art to generate any image, and the neural network, using mathematical representations of patterns collected from thousands or even millions of images available on the Internet, to generate what a person needs according to a text query.
Litigation against AI programs
In California in January 2023, three artists: Sarah Andersen, Kelly McKernan, and Carla Ortiz filed a lawsuit against Midjourney, DeviantArt, and Stability AI.
In the lawsuit, they claim that the above programs infringe on the copyright of more than a billion images that were taken from the Internet and protected by copyright. The artists demand compensation for copyright infringement. And lawyer Matthew Butterick, who filed the lawsuit, notes that Stability AI, which generates a million copyright infringing images, will cause irreversible damage to the art market and artists.
But this claim has already been criticized, as the lawsuit stated that artistic models of artificial intelligence “store compressed copies of training images” and then “recombine” them; which functions as “a 21st century collage tool(s).” However, artistic models of artificial intelligence do not store images, but rather mathematical data that will be used to create an image. The case is currently at the preliminary stage of consideration, so we will follow this process and will definitely write a separate article on the decision on this lawsuit.
When artificial intelligence became so popular, the artist community reacted strongly. The main question was whether artificial intelligence would be able to replace artists, and the latter, in turn, would be left without work.
Obviously, no, although on the one hand, it would be more profitable for companies to use a free application that can generate a logo or design for a website (any image). BUT artificial intelligence has its drawbacks, which are quite difficult to fix, even using Photoshop. Artificial intelligence, as exemplified by Midjourney, makes quite good images, but this image may contain artifacts, or, for example, a person drawn by artificial intelligence will have missing or extra limbs (or two rows of teeth when smiling, etc.).
The issue of human rights violations involving AI and the replacement of humans with AI was raised in the United States of America. If artificial intelligence replaces humans in the professional sphere, companies that used to spend money on employees and pay taxes will gradually abandon the human resource, and the state will receive less and less revenue through taxes. The solution to this issue may be to tax the artificial intelligence system, but if the tax percentage is the same as if the company paid taxes for an employee, another question arises: why give up a skilled worker? This is another argument in favor of the fact that artists will not face the problem of lack of jobs or perceive AI as a competitor in the near future.
ChatGPT and copyright
As for ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence that generates texts by analyzing queries and information from the Internet, the situation is quite clear. All the text generated by the chatbot is taken from the Internet, so if you want to write an article or, for example, a diploma, the text that ChatGPT produces may be copyrighted by the legal author of the original material. It is difficult to determine with the naked eye where the text contains copyrighted content and where there is no violation. It should also be borne in mind that protected trademarks may be used in the text, so in addition to the information provided by the chat, there are potential risks of intellectual property rights to the generated text.
It is impossible to obtain copyright to a text (i.e. to become the author of such a text) generated using ChatGPT. Referring to the norms and historical context of the Berne Convention, we make sure that “author” and “authorship” for the purposes of the Convention refer exclusively to the natural person who created the work.
At the time of writing, copyright protection belongs to human authors. This is confirmed by references in the Convention to the “author” as the creator of works and the beneficiary of protection.
Attention should also be paid to the provisions of Article 6 of the Convention on personal non-property rights, which are directly granted to “authors”. The minimum standards of copyright protection under the Convention apply only to acts of human creativity.
So, of course, artificial intelligence is developing quite rapidly, and the issue of copyright creation and protection will be relevant for a long time, because development does not stand still. It is quite possible that while you are reading this article, a new AI product has already emerged that is capable of writing certain software instead of IT specialists. For more detailed information on the protection of intellectual property rights, you can always make an appointment for a consultation with the lawyers of our company, we will be happy to help you protect your copyright and patent rights.
artificial intelligence / ChatGPT / copyright / intellectual property / Midjourney
