insight
As AI-generated innovations surge, questions around originality and ownership emerge, and Kubrick Consultant Isabel Becker delves right into these pivotal discussions following last week’s Data Universe conference in NYC. From copyright to patents to trade secrets, Isabel sheds light on the evolving landscape of intellectual property amidst AI advancements, and the new legal complexities in safeguarding human contributions versus AI-generated content. Recent landmark cases like the NYT vs. OpenAI will undoubtedly shape the future of content creation across all forms of media and innovation – are you prepared for their impact?
Hudson Yards, New York – the first Data Universe conference ran for two days this April, marking the beginnings of a more connected community of data professionals in the metropolis coming together to discuss today’s biggest questions.
One mile away in Times Square, the headquarters of The New York Times stands 52 stories-tall, a symbol of its status as a giant of American and global news reporting with a current circulation of 10 million subscribers.
Yet despite its supremacy to date, The New York Times has recently been at the centre of a high-profile copyright court case.
In December 2023, the Times sued OpenAI, the creators of ChatGPT, and its partner Microsoft for infringing on its copyrights, arguing that “millions of articles published by The Times were used to train automated chatbots that now compete with the news outlet as a source of reliable information”.
As the US court system works its way through this case, the legal profession is facing a fresh round of questions around intellectual property (IP) with the recent boom of AI-based inventions, particularly with reference to large language models (LLMs).
What counts as an ‘original work’? What is an ‘author’ or a ‘creator’? What are the boundaries between human and AI-generated innovations?
Jamie Underwood, IP Partner at Latham Watkins – a leading US law firm – explained the challenges of applying IP law to AI-based inventions at Data Universe this week.
Copyright, patents and trade secrets are the three methods lawyers can use to create protections for their clients’ work and innovations, but each route comes with separate challenges.
Copyright protects human contributions, but ‘fair use’ of copyrighted works can be allowed if it can be justified that this usage advances public welfare. Patents give creators exclusive rights to inventions for 20 years in exchange for public disclosure, but the boundaries of a patent can be limited and lengthy to enforce. Trade secrets protect the confidentiality of information and can be flexible, but cannot necessarily prevent competitors from continuing in their own developments.
As with every disruptive technological innovation, the question of what constitutes a human creation is once again being re-evaluated. Outcomes of cases such as The New York Times vs OpenAI will have landmark impacts for content creators of all kinds worldwide, shaping our collective understanding of where the human ends, and the AI begins.
Isabel Becker is a Data Consultant at Kubrick, a specialist data, AI, and cloud technology consultancy designed to accelerate delivery and build incredible teams. With a portfolio of over 130 organizations spanning industries, including leading law firms and global media and news outlets, Kubrick supports organizations to implement data and AI solutions with strong governance capability.
In addition to her consulting work, Isabel is the host of Data Stories with Isabel Becker, a podcast which explores the ways in which data enables and intersects with storytelling and culture. You can find the podcast here: https://shows.acast.com/data-s...
