Have you used AI to write a blog post, an article, or website content? Here’s something to consider, do you own the copyright to that content?
After I read a social media post written by Bobby Klinck, an attorney, it stopped me in my tracks. I had to dig deeper.
Bobby Klinck wrote: Regardless of what the terms of use for the AI system you are using say… you do NOT own the output. The Copyright Office has issued guidance making its position clear, where the AI decides the ultimate “expressive elements of its output” (and that is the case with all the standard generative AI systems), the output is “not the product of human authorship.” Because these are not works of “human authorship” they are not eligible for copyright protection. In other words, no one really owns the output. Once it’s out in the world, anyone can copy it and use it to their heart’s content.That’s true even where the user’s prompts are highly specific… and when the user goes through multiple rounds of prompts to refine the output. There are some nuances here, including that you can claim copyright for a creative organization of the output (e.g. how you combine images and text), but you won’t own the underlying elements. Does this mean you shouldn’t use AI systems? Nope. Not necessarily. It just means you should go in with your eyes open. Recognize that you won’t be able to protect your AI-generated creations and plan accordingly.
As a writer, the next question that came to me was, “Will I have to prove what I wrote is my work of art? How do I prove I wrote it without AI?”
It’s easy to type a question in the chat box and watch the AI curser flash with each character it types out. In less than a minute, a 500 word response appears on the monitor. How many people working on website content or writing a blog post about how to prepare artichokes could resist the temptation of the instant satisfaction? I admit, it is nice to have it whittle out the information, copy/paste it, and leave the creative voice out of it.
If you feel that urge to copy/past the AI generated content, don’t. Google may consider your content as spam. AI content detector websites can scan the content you wrote with the help of AI to verify the content doesn’t read like it was written with AI.
How many of us considered the idea that our content would be considered public domain just by using AI? Who does it belong it? What a slippy slope of copyright versus public domain we have encountered. It’ll be interesting to watch how all this plays out for content writers.
Certainly, AI writing apps are helpful and can reduce the amount of time for creative thinking. But, at what cost when so many companies are advertising: Write a Course Using AI, Use AI to Save Time Writing Your Book, and Make Writing Marketing Content Easier with AI. Or, for the podcaster struggling to write a script for her next episode.
Read Marketing with Your Voice if you would like a simple reminder of how easy it can be to writing in YOUR voice. Writing is about communicating from our hearts and sharing the message only we can relay.
What are your thoughts? I would love to read them.
A few articles to read:
- Copyright Registration Guidance: Works Containing Material Generated by Artificial Intelligence (source: federalregister.gov)
- Who Owns the Copyright on AI Generated Content, like ChatGPT? (source: medium.com)
- Google Search’s guidance about AI-generated content (source: developers.google.com)
- AI-Generated Art Can Be Copyrighted If The Owner Puts In The Work (source: beyondgames.biz)
The next round of questions I have to ask: Who is fact checking the AI generated content? What is the source that is populating the content?
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