Rep. Adam Schiff, a Democrat from California, proposed a new bill on Tuesday that would force AI companies to disclose what data was used to train their models. And while this is already being celebrated by major entertainment industry players, it will almost certainly anger major AI companies OpenAIwho is being sued by the New York Times Copyright infringement.
Officially known as Generative AI Copyright Disclosure ActUnder the proposed legislation, before releasing a new generative AI system, any AI company would be required to file paperwork with the US Copyright Office to explain which copyrighted works were used to build its system.
Companies that have launched generative AI products like ChatGPT and image generators like In the middle of the journey have come under criticism for using copyrighted works train their models. The AI companies argue that everything is legal under the fair use doctrine of U.S. copyright law, but the rights holders say it is a violation of their intellectual property rights. And some politicians seem to wholeheartedly agree with the rights holders.
“We must balance the immense potential of AI with the critical need for ethical guidelines and safeguards,” Rep. Schiff said Tuesday in a statement released on his website Announcement of the new legislation.
“My Generative AI Copyright Disclosure Act is a critical step in that direction,” Schiff continued. “It champions innovation while protecting the rights and contributions of creators and ensuring they know when their work contributes to AI training datasets.” It’s about respecting creativity in the age of AI and embracing technological advances to combine fairness.”
The statement, posted on Schiff’s website, features a long list of quotes from people in the entertainment and media industries. In fact, the list of recommendations is so long that it’s worth quoting in full, just to give you an idea of how much support Schiff received among copyright holders.
The list of supporters of Schiff’s website:
- Recording Industry Association of America
- Copyright Clearance Center
- Directors Guild of America
- Authors Guild
- National Association of Voice Actors
- Association for Conceptual Art
- Professional photographers from America
- Screen Actors Guild – American Association of Television and Radio Artists
- Writers Guild of America West
- Writers Guild of America East
- American Society of Composers
- Authors and publishers
- American Society for Collective Rights Licensing
- International Alliance of Theater Stage Employees
- Society of Composers and Lyricists
- National Music Publishers Association
- Recording Academy
- Nashville Songwriters Association International
- North American songwriters
- Black Music Action Coalition
- Music Artists Coalition
- Human Art Campaign
- American Independent Music Association
It’s probably worth noting that the list includes the Writers Guild of America East, the union that represents Gizmodo writers, although admittedly your humble blogger only found out about the endorsement when he read about it in Schiff’s press release.
Schiff represents California’s 30th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives, but is running for U.S. Senator for California, vying for Dianne Feinstein’s old seat. Feinstein died at the end of 2023 and Schiff is the favorite to win in November. His challenger is Steve Garvey, a Republican best known as a former professional baseball player. California hasn’t had a Republican senator since 1992.
OpenAI did not immediately respond to questions emailed overnight. We’ll update this post if we hear anything.