I also don't know if I would anthropomorphize ML to that degree. It's a poor metaphor and isn't really analogous to a human brain, especially considering our current understanding, or lack thereof, of the brain, and even the limited insight we have into how some of these models work from the people who work on them.
I feel there's a lot missing from this, and some terminology would require clarification (What constitutes "used"?).
Generally speaking, this supposition skirts around the concept of monetizing from the work of others, and seems at odds with what the Berne Convention seems to stipulate in that context, and arguably seems in violation of points 2 and 3 of the three-step test.
That's to say nothing regarding the various interpretations on data scraping laws that preclude monetizing outputs.
I don't feel it's that black and white, personally...
Because someone may see a version of reality where people are incapable of benefiting from their own work does not mean that it's by any means a settled issue or indicative of "Reality". I doubt these conversations would exist if it was. It is indeed the current year, but that doesn't mean that because things can be metaphorically distilled with false and reductionist equivalencies, that it should all be free for the taking to benefit a few people who outran regulation.
Regarding the concept of control, artists were first put in a defensive position by the individuals who started using their work without their consent, and who are trying exercise their own control over the artwork produced by others through monetizing outputs. Are only companies like Stability.AI, OpenAI, and Midjourney exclusively permitted to use and control the artwork of others, and allowed to charge for access to models which use this artwork without compensation or accreditation to the original authors? Are those artists computers not also being ruined? Do they not deserve representation?
We need to stop demonizing the idea that someone can benefit from their work because there are some companies that have fought to extend copyright for their own benefit.
Copyright REFORM is generally a much more supportable issue than the idea that everything should be free in perpetuity...
Right. I doubt many people would disagree copyright REFORM is sorely lacking. Or are you suggesting that an artist is not allowed to benefit from their work because Disney has extended copyright?
Copyright exists to incentivize authors, artists, scientists, etc. to create original works by providing a temporary monopoly.
The arguments suggesting that people shouldn't benefit from their work on an individual level, and pointing to music piracy as an example of why we shouldn't try, strike me as arguments for general inaction and fatalism. Not sure what the goal is, there...
I was actually just sitting in a AI Town Hall hosted by the Concept Art Association which had 2 US Copyright Lawyers who work at the USCO present, and their along similar lines, currently.
Basically, like you specified, legal precedent needs to be built up on a case by case basis, and harm can pretty readily be demonstrated, at least anecdotally, especially as copies are made during training of copyrighted work.
Unfortunately, historically, artists do not generally enjoy the same legal representation or resources that unionized industries with deeper pockets enjoy. It's probably one of the reasons Stability.Ai are being so considerate with their musical variant.
It would have been great if artists were asked before any of this. I could see this going in such a different direction if people were merely asked...
1. I like this style of work. I cannot make this style of work. I will pay this artist to produce this style of work.
2. I like this style of work. I cannot make this style of work. I will not pay the artist. I will instead take copyrighted material, and process it into a result using a machine that is not able to ethically refuse.
2.1. I like this style of work. I cannot make this style of work. I will not pay the artist. I will use this model someone else made to produce this style of work.
I mean, the alternative is arguably that artists become indentured servants to scraping/training models that benefit the people who are doing the scraping/training, at the arguable expense of the artist.
Just because it's here doesn't mean it can't be modified going forward, and that we have to surrender to any and all ability to regulate anything. Fatalism can be attractive if you don't want to think about regulation, though, I suppose.
Let's not conflate ethical inputs for full-out "undo" panic.
I don't see many people saying that we need to "un-release" anything.
What I do see is a want for ethical considerations for vulnerable parties be part of the discussion. I don't think consent is too large a barrier, especially since the music-focused variant of these tools currently has the developers walking on egg shells to avoid aggravating people with deeper pockets.
Instead what I see is the borderline criminalization of the people who were forced into the role of gatekeeping to be able to support themselves in the span of a few months because someone said "We can!" and apparently didn't watch Jurassic Park.
The brain-computer metaphor is not a very good one, it's a pretty baseless appeal. Additionally, it's an argument that anthropomorphizes something which has no moral, legal, or ethical discretion.
You do not actively train your brain in remotely similar methods, and you, as an individual, are accountable to social pressures. An issue these companies are trying to avoid with ethically questionable scraping/training methods and research loop holes.
Additionally, many artists aren't purely learning from others to perfectly emulate them, and it's quickly spotted if they are, generally. Lessons learned do not implicitly mean you perfectly emulate that lesson. At each stage of learning, you bias things through your own filter.
Overall, the idea that these two things are comparable feels grotesque and reductionist, and feel quite similar to the "Well I wasn't going to buy it anyway" arguments we've been throwing around for decades to try to justify piracy of other materials.
At the end of the day, an argument that "style can't be copyrighted" is ignoring a lot of aspects of it's definition, including the means, and can be extrapolated into an argument that nothing proprietary should be allowed to exist...
Artists don't generally try to OWN styles or prevent others from using them. They are the result of years of training, adapting, etc. They put their own spin on it. It's effectively a brand of that artist, and it's generally beholden to a sort of "honor" code that you'll likely get called out for breaching if you're flagrantly trying to pass it off as your own.
The core issue illustrating this is when people use an artist name in a prompt. If these models did not exist, if you wanted something in that style, you would likely be reaching out to that individual, or asking someone else to try to emulate someone. In that instance, the emulation is generally accountable. In these instances, there is no accountability towards the algorithm, as it's not making creative choices, to say nothing of moral or ethical ones. That was done by the individuals with venture-capital backing, using research loopholes to fund the legally questionable scraping of this data in the first place, which in some instances, violates the EULAs of the sites they were scraped from.
At the end of the day, these artists, styles, etc. would not exist without the artists who had no say in their "democratizing art".
Artists are granted copyright for their work by default per the Berne Convention. These copyrighted works are then used without consent of the original author for these models.
Additionally, the argument that you can't copyright a style is playing fast and loose with most things that are proprietary, semantically.
- https://i.imgur.com/VikPFDT.png
I also don't know if I would anthropomorphize ML to that degree. It's a poor metaphor and isn't really analogous to a human brain, especially considering our current understanding, or lack thereof, of the brain, and even the limited insight we have into how some of these models work from the people who work on them.