The meteoric rise of generative A.I., while exciting, presents a threat to IP holders, such as creators, businesses and investors, as well as the public.
To the surprise of many, career creators who are a part of the Writers Guild of America (WGA), which recently engaged in a 148-day strike, have taken the lead in managing the impact of A.I. on its members, many of whom fear that A.I. algorithms will be used to marginalize or even replace them.
Government regulation will help, but it is slow to develop and favors the strongest lobbies. Organizations like the WGA and other effected groups, may have the vision, clout and immediacy necessary to hammer out language meaningful to its members’ future. Their struggles do not normally include the interests of the public, but their success in negotiating a deal with the studios may be an indication of disputes to come and how to resolve them.
While investments in technology have been declining, A.I. is heating up. A lot of private equity eggs are going into that one basket. Over the past few months global investment in A.I. has soared from $9.7 billion in the the 4th quarter of 2022 to $18 billion in the first quarter of 2023, an 86% increase.
The Future of A.I. Regulation
UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak pitched his nation as the future home of AI regulation, according to a report from Tortoise Media, a respected UK based source of “slow” journalism headed by former BBC and The Times of London editors.
In addition, Europe has sped up negotiations for the EU Artificial Intelligence Act – the first-ever comprehensive AI law; and China is planning to draft its own artificial intelligence law by the end of this year.
The Biden Administration’s Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights, a set of guidelines for the responsible design and use of artificial intelligence, created by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) last year amid an ongoing global push to establish more regulations to govern AI.
“Stakeholder concerns are far less important to chief executives than keeping up with peers in Silicon Valley and China.”
The image above reflects Tortoise Media’s global A.I. rankings. The company produces an annual Global AI Index, which ranks the top nations competing based on a range of measures.
According to the Financial Times, the push to regulate A.I. is currently developing not from the top down, i.e. from tech titans, than bottom up, secured through a union by workers. A good example is the deal recently negotiated by the Writers Guild of America, which represents the formerly striking Hollywood writers
New Rules for Use
“Along with higher wages and residuals and staff minimums,” reports the FT, “the writers got something arguably even more important: new rules around how the entertainment industry can, and can’t, use AI. The rules apply to any project using union writers, who get to decide whether they want to use AI in writing or not.
“Studios also have to disclose to writers if any of the materials given to them were generated by AI — which can’t be used to undermine a writer’s own intellectual property.”
“This is a very big deal,” writes Rana Foroohar, one the top journalists covering technology. “It shows that A.I. can, in fact, be regulated.”
Legal Cover
While technologists love to act as though they are begging for Washington to step in so that their new products and services won’t blow up the world, reports say Foroohar, the truth is that they spend billions trying to craft a regulatory line that gets them as much legal cover as possible for problems that might occur, while also allowing them to move ahead with innovation.
“Stakeholder concerns are far less important to chief executives than keeping up with peers in Silicon Valley and China.”
It is easy to forget that everybody is a copyright holder and the right to privacy is everyone’s. If the IP owners and the public wish to be taken seriously in the A.I. discussion, they need to know (1) what is at stake, and (2) what leverage they have to achieve their goals.
Image source: Tortoise Media
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