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A program that can produce copies is the same as a copy. How that copy comes into being (whether out of an algorithm or read from a support) is related, but not

A program that can produce copies is the same as a copy. How that copy comes into being (whether out of an algorithm or read from a support) is related, but not relevant.

LordDragonfang 2y ago
>A program that can produce copies is the same as a copy. A program that always produces copies is the same as a copy. A program that merely can produce copies categorically is not. The Library of Babel[1] can produce copyrighted works, and for that matter so can any random number generator, but in almost every normal circumstance will not. The same is true for LLMs and diffusion models. While there are some circumstance that you can produce copies of a work, in natural use that's only for things that will come up thousands of times in its training set -- by and large, famous works in the public domain, or cultural touch-stones so iconic that they're essentially genericized (one main copyrighted example are the officially released promo materials for movies). [1] https://libraryofbabel.info/ https://libraryofbabel.info/
GaggiX 2y ago
Yeah that's right, I doubt that a model would generate an image or text so close to a real one to violate copyright law just by pure chance, the image/text space is incredibly large.
waffletower 2y ago
A human illustrator can also copy existing works. As a result they are not criminalized for making other non-copies. The output of an AI needs to be considered independently of its input. Further, the folly of copyright ought to be also considered, since no work -- whether solely human in origin (such as speech, unaccompanied song, dance etc.) or built with technological prosthesis/instrumentality -- is ever made in a cultural vacuum. All art is interdependent. Copyright exists to allow art (in the general sense) to be compensated for. But copyright has grown into a voracious entitlement for deeply monied interests, and has long intruded upon the commons and fair use.
- FractalHQ 2y ago
  human illustrator != machine owned by a Moloch powered mega tech corp

A program that can produce copies is the same as a copy. How that copy comes into being (whether out of an algorithm or read from a support) is related, but not relevant.

LordDragonfang 2y ago

>A program that can produce copies is the same as a copy. A program that always produces copies is the same as a copy. A program that merely can produce copies categorically is not. The Library of Babel[1] can produce copyrighted works, and for that matter so can any random number generator, but in almost every normal circumstance will not. The same is true for LLMs and diffusion models. While there are some circumstance that you can produce copies of a work, in natural use that's only for things that will come up thousands of times in its training set -- by and large, famous works in the public domain, or cultural touch-stones so iconic that they're essentially genericized (one main copyrighted example are the officially released promo materials for movies). [1] https://libraryofbabel.info/ https://libraryofbabel.info/

GaggiX 2y ago

Yeah that's right, I doubt that a model would generate an image or text so close to a real one to violate copyright law just by pure chance, the image/text space is incredibly large.

waffletower 2y ago

A human illustrator can also copy existing works. As a result they are not criminalized for making other non-copies. The output of an AI needs to be considered independently of its input. Further, the folly of copyright ought to be also considered, since no work -- whether solely human in origin (such as speech, unaccompanied song, dance etc.) or built with technological prosthesis/instrumentality -- is ever made in a cultural vacuum. All art is interdependent. Copyright exists to allow art (in the general sense) to be compensated for. But copyright has grown into a voracious entitlement for deeply monied interests, and has long intruded upon the commons and fair use.

FractalHQ 2y ago
human illustrator != machine owned by a Moloch powered mega tech corp