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> Ethically it is not very different from myself reading books, blogs and other available source codes, and then writing my own program based on whatever I lear

> Ethically it is not very different from myself reading books, blogs and other available source codes, and then writing my own program based on whatever I learned. I don't think that's the same. It's more similar to copying and adapting snippets of code, in which case I would have to check the licence. Also, it's not an ethical, but a legal consideration. It's not particularly ethical that the Mouse keeps on having its copyright extended but it is legal.

cdrini 4y ago
In my experience using copilot, I believe it's more similar to the former than to copying and adapting. Copilot generates code snippets that are transformative and derived from multiple code sources--like Dalle does with images. I think making the AI algorithms more transparent is what needs to happen. The AI needs to be able to say that this five line code snippet was generated based on learning from these 2000 repos. That would not only directly provide input on whether copying is happening, but would also just generally be an amazingly useful tool. But the tech isn't there yet. Most legal issues are ethical issues. The reason copyright law exists is because an ethical argument has been made that artists should be able to profit/make a living from their creations for a reasonable amount of time. Another contradictory ethical argument is that art should enter the public domain so that it is available to all. Copyright sits in limbo between these two conflicting ethical requirements.