OpenAI sparks outrage with launch of new AI video app: 'Are any of us surprised about this'

OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, has fueled a new dose of outrage online with the announcement of its new AI-generated video feature, Sora 2, which requires companies and artists to opt out to avoid their copyrighted content being used, according to a report from Reuters.

What's happening?

As generative artificial intelligence has grown in popularity, increased attention has been drawn to the legal gray area in which it operates. AI models are trained on millions of human-created works, many of them copyrighted, leading to still unanswered questions about whether AI's creations — whether they be videos, images, or text — are truly original works or whether they are derivatives that violate copyright law. 

"While it may seem like these new AI tools can conjure new material from the ether, that's not quite the case," explained the authors of a 2023 article appearing in Harvard Business Review. "Generative AI platforms are trained on data lakes and question snippets – billions of parameters that are constructed by software processing huge archives of images and text." 

"The AI platforms recover patterns and relationships, which they then use to create rules, and then make judgments and predictions, when responding to a prompt," the authors continued.

Given the breakneck speed at which AI technology has advanced and gained in popularity, the law has failed to keep pace, leading to many unanswered questions. A number of artists and businesses have sued AI companies, alleging that the use of their creations in AI training sets has violated their rights under existing copyright law.   

Now, with the introduction of OpenAI's new Sora platform, which allows users to generate and share AI videos, the situation has taken on an added urgency. At least one major company, Disney, reportedly has opted out of its content being used, per Reuters. 

Why is copyright law important?

Like other intellectual property rights, copyright has long existed as a way to incentivize people to put their time and effort into developing unique, new creations with the promise that others will not be able to exploit these innovations for their own use or profit. 

"Copyright protection plays an important role in encouraging enterprise and stimulating economic activity," explained the Intellectual Property Office of Ireland. "It provides a vital incentive for creation of many intellectual works. Without copyright protection, it would be easy for others to exploit these works without paying royalties or remuneration to the owner of the work." 

Generative AI poses a unique and unprecedented threat to those who develop creative works, as the technology has the potential to displace countless human artists and other workers in the creative industries. The sad irony is that many of these humans could be replaced by technology trained on their own creations. 

If human creators are unable to earn a living pursuing what for many has been a lifelong passion, using skills that took years if not decades to develop, then the world is at risk of being chock-full of AI slop rather than the original, creative works that many believe lie at the core of what it means to be human. If they then also have to opt out, it puts the burden on them and casts OpenAI as some kind of global fact of life, like a copyright registrar, rather than a private company — continuing a posture by the company and others in the AI space of training on content first and worrying about permission later, in the interest of moving faster.

Do you worry about companies having too much of your personal data? Absolutely 👍 Sometimes 🤔 Not really 👎 I'm not sure 🤷 Click your choice to see results and speak your mind.

"Are any of us surprised about this," a user who goes by Kamila (@kanomalie) posted to X in response.

Additionally, generative AI comes at a steep financial and economic price, costs that are borne by society at large but which benefit a select few. As the massive, power-hungry data centers that make AI possible proliferate, they are responsible for an ever-increasing amount of planet-heating pollution, while their energy consumption has made electricity prices go up for everyone. 

What's being done about generative AI and copyright law?

While large, wealthy businesses like Disney have the resources — and teams of lawyers — necessary to protect their intellectual property against infringement by AI companies, smaller organizations and individual artists do not, leaving them increasingly vulnerable. 

Therefore, lawmakers need to step in and clarify exactly what constitutes copyright infringement when it comes to AI training and generative AI creations, establishing mechanisms by which creators can meaningfully protect their work. 

Otherwise, the "art" of the future might consist largely of AI-produced slop. 

Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.