Is Artificial Intelligence (AI) causing a stir in Intellectual Property Law?

Ed Sheeran has been defending himself in court recently against claims that he copied Marvin Gaye's classic Let's Get it on in his 2014 hit; thinking out loud. And while the songwriter had a successful outcome, copyright experts say the real challenge ahead for Ed is not from other songwriters but from the robots!

Artificial intelligence, or AI, has been hogging the headlines recently. Students passed exams using ChatGPT, and a photographer won an international competition with an AI-generated image. With the coming of age of generative artificial intelligence, some 75% of companies say they will be adopting it in some form, according to the latest research from the World Economic Forum.

But as sure as night follows day, the march of the bots is set to be challenged in the courts. For example, streaming platforms last month removed a song that used AI interpretation of real-life performers Drake and The Weeknd. The song went viral, but shortly afterwards, the creator, known as @ghostwriter, said the song Heart On My Sleeve was created by AI that had been trained on the artist's voice. The streaming platforms, including Spotify and Apple Music, removed the song swiftly on copyright grounds.

Over recent months, global music publisher Universal Music Group has demanded that platforms take down any AI-generated songs. They have also requested to cut off all access to their music catalogue to stop developers from using Universal's songs to train AI technology.

Elsewhere, Getty Images has taken legal action against one of the emerging text-to-image AI software companies. The software creates images for users based on the instructions it's given. Getty is arguing that millions of its images have been used to train the AI, therefore infringing Getty's copyright.

Unlike Getty, the image library Shutterstock is actively embracing AI. It has chosen to partner with developers for AI learning. Shutterstock is also offering customers access to AI-generated images on its platform, saying this offers greater confidence as it provides a user licence for such images.

"Whether it's the Getty or @ghostwriter case, the question of whether AI-generated content is a breach of copyright is yet to be decided, but for now, the law is racing to catch up with technology," said commercial Litigation and Intellectual property law expert Torion Bowles, Partner at Warner Goodman in Hampshire. 

"One of the promises of generative AI is to provide creative output for even the most un-creative, but for now, it may equally be a doorway into a quagmire of legal complication. It's not just the copyright issue that must be considered, but also recognising that output from generative AI has shown to be factually incorrect or even fabricated in many cases. The quality of the training data and how a request is framed can create very different results."

"For instance, a regional mayor in Australia was said by ChatGPT to have been involved in fraudulent activity when, in fact, he had been a whistle-blower in a case. It was reported that he was considering a defamation claim against ChatGBT developers OpenAI."

Torion added: "The jury is out on the bigger picture of whether AI is a glorious opportunity or an existential threat to society. We've seen Elon Musk speak out against its wholesale adoption, and Geoffrey Hinton, the so-called godfather of AI, resigned from Google, saying he now regrets his work."  

"For now, companies and individuals may be well advised to keep a tight rein on their creative use of artificial intelligence."

For more information on Intellectual Property, please click here. Alternatively, you can speak to our specialist IP Solicitor, Torion Bowles, on 02380 717455 or email torionbowles@warnergoodman.co.uk.