I have no illusions that my posts are some tremendous eternal bequest to our literary heritage. I share them freely with our WordPress community for the pleasure of writing and sometimes getting a response. What I am not interested in doing is offering free training to AI.
On my posts are a prominent statement that the material is copyrighted and that I am the creator and copyright holder. No, I do not expect to make a mint of my verbal ramblings. But I’m not willing to have my work reused without permission or compensation. Many years ago, I was the editor of a small community newspaper. It was a monthly tabloid that offered everything from recipes to gossip. Most of the material was provided free to the community by other members. But we did offer payment for some articles, and we paid standard North American rates for using the author’s material. Not to have done so would have been a theft.
So you may have noted that many writers and artists question if the corporations building AI applications are using their material to train the algorithms without permission or compensation. Well, here we sit in the middle of the great big WordPress literary universe, and the other day a blogger wondered in one o her posts whether WP was using our materials to help train AI. That got me thinking, and I went to the WordPress customer council and asked. No reply. So again, this morning, I posted a new query:
I‘ve asked this before and not received a response, but I am curious if WP allows chatbots and AI to train on the material your customers provide on our blogs.You might note that on my blog, I have a prominent copyright notice. Like many, I consider uninformed and unreimbursed use to be a violation of my intellectual property rights. So I’d like to know if Word Press allows our material to be used for AI.
I’ll be waiting for a response to arrive. It’s not so much that I want a check, but it’s always lovely when someone politely asks. Why don’t you go ahead and ask WordPress yourself?
If anyone can benefit and make money off of anything I post on WordPress, bless their hearts because, after paying $300 a year for the privilege of posting lots of text and too many photos of my cat Andy, I make $00.00 a year back. It is nice, however, if credit for use of any of my original content is identified as mine.
You are right. Recognition would be nice…and maybe a nice bag of Greenies for Andy!
Andy is a smart enough kitty I’m surprised he hasn’t contacted his lawyer about the unapproved use of his image all these years….LOL!
(Incidentally, usually one needs to sign in to comment on your posts. I’ve never seen any place to do that, so never comment, obviously, on your posts.)
It’s strange but on your posts I can’t sign in, I have to go through the little comment balloon on the reader.
It’s another WP mystery. Yours is the only blog I run into this issue.
I tried the comment balloon you mentioned and am able to comment here now.
There is a lot of conversation going on now about AI and I’m just beginning to be interested and understand what it’s all about. Like most things that are developing, it seems to have a good use and a not so good use. Why is there always some that want to find ways to profit off others work? Laziness? I think they don’t answer because no one up the chain will take responsibility and the lower on the chain don’t know.
Your answer is simple, elegant, and quite probably the reason.
Okay now I’m a little worried about this. A few days ago I was discussing the lengths of AI with one of my friends but this specific point did not hit me. Even the thought is terrifying because this is not what I agreed on. If you get any reply please let this community know too and I’m going to send the WP people my query.
Will do.
I am so glad you are asking this question. In effect, if they are allowing it, we are being cloned. I say no. Also, I tried to comment on your blog about the wooden spoons and other kitchenware that you make and it wouldn’t allow me to unless I signed into jet pack..which to my knowledge I don’t use and don’t want to. No problem here, though. I wanted to comment about how many handmade wooden spoons and spatulas I have… which is dozens. I love them. Did a show for years with a friend who made them and every show, I bought at least one. More likely, a handful. I have them displayed in my kitchen in a large turkey with holes all over it so they stand out like feathers handy for the grabbing.
some blogs I have no problem commenting on, but on others I have to go through the Reader, and use the little comment balloon. I have no idea why.
I am very pleased that you love the spoons. They are fun to make.
Lou, just did a blog for you… Check it out.
I appreciate you raising this concern. Hope you get a response from WP. Thanks.
Wanted to see if it would let me send you a photo of my turkey full of wooden spoons, but it won’t. I’ll put it on my blog and link it here…BRB.
A straightforward question. I suspect that if the product of the AI training is sufficiently different from the original, then there is no copyright infringement. The synthesis of ideas to create an original work is a common writing practice, only in the case of AI, it is machine generated. Am I comfortable with that? Not at all.
You comment speaks well to the transformative aspect of a lot of copyright law. but with regard to media I think that’s been a hard sell in the courts, and you have be able to prove that it wasn’t an infringement. In video and music it’s been hotly contested. who has the deepest pockets to lawyer up may be what decides the case in terms of all the little guys who would have to form a class to get noticed by the courts.
Good to hear your thoughts on the practicalities, Lou.