Is AI The Future of Entertainment?

Technology: it’s a blessing and a curse. Artificial intelligence has long been an “if and when” subject. Within the last year, ChatGPT and other AI tools have become increasingly popular in many industries, especially the art and entertainment industries. While AI has no doubt provided vast opportunities and benefits to these industries, it also is presently a legal gray area with issues like infringement becoming prominent.

AI Does Some Pretty Cool Things

We have already seen what AI tools can do for the entertainment industry firsthand, and they are nothing short of amazing.

For instance, Val Kilmer, who lost his ability to speak in 2014 after undergoing throat cancer treatment, partnered with Sonantic and created a lifelike model of his old speaking voice by supplying hours of recorded audio of himself into an AI algorithm. Sonantic was able to generate more than 40 different models of Kilmer’s voice (the best, highest quality, and most expensive one was ultimately selected), and now these algorithms are able to be used by future clients. This vocal recreation allowed Kilmer to revive his role as Iceman in Top Gun: Maverick in 2022.

In December 2022, The Safe Zone, a short film produced by 28 Squared Studios in association with Moon Ventures, was released on YouTube. What makes this production revolutionary is that AI not only wrote the entire script, but also directed the production in seven days. ChatGPT was able to provide a full shot list, specific instructions to the Director of Photography and camera operators such as choice of camera lenses, camera movement, and lighting requirements, and recommend wardrobe preferences.

ChatGPT and AI don’t stop at vocal recreation and generating original content. ChatGPT could be used to personalize video games for individual players by analyzing that players data and preferences, assist in marketing efforts by analyzing data and providing insights into preferences and behavior, increase efficiency by generating subtitles or transcribing interviews, and automate mundane tasks such as scheduling. The creators of South Park even credited ChatGPT as a co-writer to the March 9, 2023 episode, “Deep Learning,” which dealt with the use of ChatGPT for writing essays and replying to their girlfriend’s text messages.

Sounds great! What could go wrong?

AI Generators & Copyright

While the benefits of AI are endless, so are the potential downfalls. ChatGPT and other AI tools are very new and the legal implications surrounding these tools are only just beginning to reveal themselves.

ChatGPT and similar generative AI tools are frequently trained on copyrighted material. Is this fair use? Are the results copyrightable? Is it infringement if the outputs are too similar to the source materials?

Lawsuits have already been filed against AI generators for copyright infringement. In January 2023, Getty Images filed a lawsuit against Stability AI, the creators of Stable Diffusion, which is an open-source AI in the United States District Court of Delaware. Getty Images claims that Stability AI copied more than 12 million images from its database “without permission…or compensation…as part of its efforts to build a competing business,” and that Stability AI has infringed on Getty Images’ copyright and trademark protections.

Additionally, a proposed class action was also filed in January 2023, in the United States District Court of the Northern District of California against Stability AI, Midjourney, Inc., and DeviantArt, Inc., which alleges the companies have infringed the copyright of artists by using “billions of images downloaded from the internet without the artists’ consent.”

Are AI generators capable of infringing on copyright? Or is generative AI legally above board? At this point, no one really knows and there’s no telling how these issues will play out in court. In light of all of this, the US Copyright Office recently announced that it has launched artificial intelligence initiative to examine copyright and the policy issues which are raised by the use of AI, including the copy of copyright in AI generated works and AI training using copyright materials. The Copyright Office additionally issued registration guidance for works that contain AI generated material. At this point, applicants have the duty to disclose the inclusion of AI-generated content in the work they are submitting for registration and provide a brief explanation of the human author’s contribution to the work. This policy does not apply to the technological tools that are a part of the creative process, such as Adobe Photoshop to edit an image or using guitar pedals when creating a sound recording. What matters is the extent to which the human had creative control over the work’s expression and actually formed the traditional elements of authorship.

Conclusion

ChatGPT and similar AI tools are revolutionizing the art and entertainment industries. Their impact is already undeniable. Certainly, as the technology continues to evolve and become more powerful, even more innovative uses for it will appear. However, as AI evolves, and the distinction between human-made and computer-made art is blurred, the legal realm surrounding it will become more complex. It’s entirely possible that works created using AI may have very important implications for copyright law in the near future.