Summary: Several major news publications are urging the U.S. government to stop AI theft. They want to keep companies from training their models on copyrighted data. They are running ad campaigns online and in print to help stop this from happening.
The struggle never stops, does it? Companies are in a constant battle against AI companies regarding the information they scrape to train their models. More than a year on, The New York Times is still tangled in a battle with OpenAI and Microsoft. Well, it looks like the battle just got a bit more heated.
Several major publications are now taking a stand against AI companies, telling them to “Stop AI Theft.” They are urging the U.S. government to put a cap on what sort of data AI companies like OpenAI, Google, Meta, and others can use to train their models.
Major publications urge the U.S. government to stop AI theft
This whole push is being spearheaded by companies like The Washington Post, The Guardian, Vox Media (The Verge’s parent company), The New York Times, and more. We already know The New York Times’ stance on AI technology.
They launched an ad campaign called “Support Responsible AI“, and it’s being run by the News/Media Alliance trade association. The ads exist both online and in print, so you’re likely to see the ads at some point.
Some of the ads show primarily red and white graphics with text like “Stop AI Theft”, “AI steals from you too”, and “Keep watch on AI.” Each ad comes with a link pointing to the official support page.
Why the sudden rush?
These publications want the U.S. government to stop AI companies from training their data on copyrighted material. This is the main reason why the New York Times is suing OpenAI. AI companies want the U.S. government to allow them to train their data on copyrighted material. This means that the companies that create and own the rights to content will be powerless to stop companies from stealing it.
We’ve already seen companies like Lions Gate sell out and hand their content over to Runway AI. Also, we have to account for the literal boatload of news publications that sold out to OpenAI. Even Vox Media, one of the companies running this ad campaign, sold out to OpenAI.
This is noble… but not really
Many major companies can defend their content with expensive and lengthy courtroom boxing matches. However, most average people are, as the kids say, cooked. The small-time filmmaker who posts their stuff on YouTube or the indie pop singer are powerless to stop trillion-dollar companies.
We’ve been waiting for more representation from larger brands to help fight AI companies, and this ad campaign seems to be just that. However, we can’t tell if these companies really care about the state of news media. It doesn’t focus on data being used to train AI; it focuses on copyrighted data being used.
It doesn’t feel like these companies are sticking up for the little guy. Rather, it feels like they’re just protecting their property. That might have been the thing to spur them into action. Obviously, we can’t say that for sure, but it’s something to keep in mind.
