Would We Have Taylor Swift Without The Beatles? The Battle Over AI Training
The 2022 launch of ChatGPT introduced artificial intelligence (AI) to the general public and raised a number of novel issues in the area of copyright. Artists learned that the vast data sets used by developers to train large language models contained copyrighted works, most of which had been scraped from the internet.
Imitation Is The Sincerest Form Of Flattery
As a bit of context, let’s remember that most great creative works are inspired (or at least influenced) by works that came before them. During the Renaissance, journeyman painters learned their craft by studying the works of the great masters. Jump ahead by a few centuries and we know that Elvis Presley was influenced by the gospel music he grew up on. His music, in turn, influenced such artists as the Beatles. And artists like Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga and Billy Joel count the Beatles (in some cases, specifically Paul McCartney) among the musicians that most influenced their music. I’m sure we can find the same connections for modern authors, fine artists, photographers, and the like. All artists are the product of their life experiences, including (and probably most importantly) all of the art they encountered throughout their lives.
