The AI Data Mess

Artificial Intelligence systems and Privacy / Data Protection / Intellectual Property Protection seem to be in conflict. Or at least that is how it appears for now.

Authors are suing AI companies, alleging that their books, articles & videos are included in the AI software’s training data.

Companies like OpenAI are arguing that the use of copyrighted data for training AI systems is legal under the “fair use” provision of copyright law.

While this copyright fight is going on one side, more and more AI-generated content is stampeding into the public sphere.

• NewsGuard has identified 475 AI-generated news and information websites in 14 languages
• AI-generated music is flooding streaming websites and generating royalties
• AI-generated books are so prevalent on Amazon that the company is asking authors who self-publish on its Kindle platform to also declare if they are using AI or not
• AI-generated voices are being used without compensating the people owning that voice!

Regulators are getting shot from all sides in this mess. The European Union is considering the first set of regulatory restrictions on AI, requiring some transparency from generative AI systems, including providing summaries of copyrighted data that was used to train such systems.

Many of the Big Tech firms are contesting the EU AI laws citing it restricts their businesses.

The crucial question that every government and regulatory authority will have to answer is:

“Is Human Wellbeing more important or are business interests more important?”

The answer to this key question will drive the narrative forward on how AI will consume, use, and share our data, personal or otherwise.