, after Representative Adam Schiff introduced a bill this week that would force companies to reveal if they used copyrighted content in their training data sets for machine learning., if passed, would require businesses to disclose a list of all the copyrighted content they used in a training data set for any new models at least 30 days before they are made public.
Companies would have to file the disclosure with the Register of Copyrights or face a potential monetary penalty for non-compliance. "We must balance the immense potential of AI with the crucial need for ethical guidelines and protections," said SchiffIn the same statement, the proposed legislation was applauded by an array of representatives from various creative sectors such as the Recording Industry Association of America and the Hollywood professionals in SAG-AFTRA.
The fight over the use of copyrighted material has already sparked lawsuits against companies like OpenAI and its partner Microsoft, such as byAI companies and their proponents have claimed that using copyright material in training data sets to generate new content like AI images and songs , meaning they shouldn't have to pay artists, writers, and other owners of the copyrighted material they use.While the bill doesn't outright ban the use of copyrighted material in AI training data sets, a forced public disclosure may spur more lawsuits from copyright holders — as well asat a pro-AI sizzle reel at a recent SXSW event, things are truly heating up in the court of public opinion and that may chart the future course of the AI industry.