It's week two of our Future of Open campaign and we're exploring the fair use of AI.

View this email in your browser ([link removed])
[link removed]

Hi John,

It’s week 2 of our Future of Open ([link removed]) campaign and we have some exciting news to share.

Our campaign is going strong! We're happy to thank you for helping us kickstart this campaign on our way to our goal of $50,000 in contributions. All of us at Creative Commons (CC) are so grateful for your generosity.

In the weeks leading up to our big Future of Open ([link removed]) fundraiser on June 13th, we’re highlighting CC’s early thinking about Artificial Intelligence (AI) - the possibilities, limitations, and threats it presents to the commons.

------------------------------------------------------------

Last week, we explored what AI means for art and creativity, especially remix culture. This week, we take a look at “fair use, ([link removed]) ” a legal doctrine at the forefront of conversations about AI training.

What is fair use? Fair use is a doctrine within US copyright law that allows for the use of a copyrighted work without the copyright owner’s permission under special circumstances.

These circumstances aren’t well-defined, which raises the question: Should the use of copyrighted material to train generative AI be considered fair use?

It’s a complicated question. There is a strong argument in favor of fair use. Generative AI doesn’t actually duplicate any of the original images that it’s trained on. Instead, it uses data from “training” on tremendous numbers of works to create works that are entirely new and unique. This data, from a legal standpoint, isn’t eligible for copyright protection.

We see this with the case of Google Books ([link removed]) . In 2013, the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled that Google's digitization and storage of thousands of copyrighted works was “fair use” because they weren’t directly distributing copies. They were using the data generated by these works to develop a digital tool that allows users to reference quotes or perform fact checks, amongst other uses.

The question of whether this constitutes fair use is still an open one. What’s certain is that, with this rapid rollout of AI technologies, we must consider artists and creators. We need best practices that ensures equity for creators whose work may be used by AI. Creative Commons is invested in this, ensuring, too, we maintain the fair use of copyrighted work for AI training. What do you think? Check out the full blog post ([link removed]) and let us know!

Next week in the Future of Open ([link removed]) campaign, we’ll examine the use of AI to generate work unique to a specific artist’s style or technique and what this might mean for copyright.

In these difficult economic times, we know not everyone is able or willing to give, and that’s ok. Please see below for all the ways you can get involved:

Donate
* Make a donation ([link removed]) (consider becoming a monthly donor!)
* Fundraise for us by starting a Facebook fundraising page ([link removed])
* Would you prefer to send a check? See our Donor FAQ ([link removed]) for other ways to make a donation.

Share
* Share your thoughts on how AI is impacting the open community with the hashtag #FutureOfOpen and tagging @creativecommons
* Check out and share our Creative Commons’ Open Minds ([link removed]) podcast

Thanks!
The CC Team love_cc

============================================================
Help us make sharing better so we can build a brighter future
** Donate to Creative Commons ([link removed])
** Twitter ([link removed])
** Facebook ([link removed])
** LinkedIn ([link removed])
** Website ([link removed])
** GitHub ([link removed])
** CC BY 4.0 ([link removed])

Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can ** update your preferences ([link removed])
or ** unsubscribe from this list ([link removed])
.