California's AB-412: The AI Copyright Transparency Act Explained
By
Action Network
Solid neighbourhood-bakery energy. Trustworthy and warm.
Summary
This article is a call-to-action urging support for California's AB-412, the AI Copyright Transparency Act. It argues that generative AI developers are scraping copyrighted works from artists and creators across multiple industries without consent, credit, or compensation. The piece emphasizes that California has an opportunity to lead the nation by passing this legislation, which would require GenAI developers to disclose how copyrighted materials are used in training datasets. The tone is urgent and advocacy-driven, framing the lack of transparency as theft and a direct violation of copyright law.
Key quotes
· 5 pulledEvery single day we don't have transparency, the value of copyright loses ground and the harms inflicted to creative industries grow.
Thousands of people across a multitude of creative industries have found the entirety of their works, both personal and professional, used to train GenAI datasets without anyone having acquired consent, or having offered them any kind of credit or compensation. This is unacceptable!
Vast quantities of data are routinely and indiscriminately scraped from across the internet to train GenAI models. These works serve as the 'data fuel' for these models, and yet there is no requirement for GenAI developers to provide the lawful owners of these materials with any way to know if their specific copyrighted materials are contained within a dataset or not. This is theft!
AB-412 is literally the least the California Legislature can do to prevent GenAI developers from profiting off the copyrighted materials of uncredited and uncompensated artists and creators.
We have the right to know how, where and when our works are used - we need the AI Copyright Transparency Act!
You might also wanna read
AI Development and Copyright: Why Expanding Protections Could Harm Innovation
The article argues against expanding copyright protections for AI training data, contending that requiring licenses for such materials would
eff.org·6mo ago
800+ Artists Launch "Stealing Isn't Innovation" Campaign Against AI Copyright Infringement
Over 800 artists, writers, actors, and musicians have signed the "Stealing Isn't Innovation" campaign, warning against AI companies' large-s
The Verge·4mo ago
The Unsettled Legal Questions Around Ownership of AI-Generated Code
The article examines the unresolved legal questions surrounding ownership of AI-generated code. It argues that copyright ownership depends o
legallayer.substack.com·1mo ago
AI Exposes Fundamental Flaws in Copyright Law Enforcement
The article argues that AI hasn't broken copyright law but rather exposed its existing flaws and inconsistencies. It examines how copyright
jasonwillems.com·3mo ago
AI Companies' Copyright Dilemma: Scraping Data vs. Fair Use
The article criticizes AI companies for scraping vast amounts of online content, including text, photos, and videos, to train their models w
jskfellows.stanford.edu·9mo ago