In the midst of the visible drama on Los Angeles streets, the arrest of Greta Thunberg trying to deliver baby formula to starving Gazan babies, and Putler’s response to having his airplanes bombed (bombing civilian areas, killing people, but what else would you expect from that butcher?), drama unfolds at the Copyright Office. Really? The Copyright Office?
After Trump fired Carla Hayden, the Librarian of Congress, he abruptly fired Shira Permutter, Director of the Copyright Office, which has the sole job of registering publications. Evidently the Office was about to publish its report on whether using copyrighted works to train AI constituted “fair use,” or using copyrighted materials without permission or compensation. It’s clear the issue is money, lots of it.
Thousands of writers, including Nora Roberts, Michael Chabon, and Margaret Atwood have signed an open letter to Meta and Open AI to stop using their work without permission or compensation. And while the Copyright Office was forced to pause its registration of works for 12 days, more than 20,000 items were not registered.
Prayer for the Day
In the stillness of the morning, we look for you, Holy One,
Searching with our eyes rather than our hearts;
Overwhelmed by the silence of the stars in the night,
We wonder at beauty beyond our comprehension.
Quiet the stirrings of our hearts with your love,
Calm the storms of our souls with your grace.
In the name of the One who shares your grace with all,,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
Various uses of copyrighted works in AI training are likely to be transformative. The extent to which they are fair, however, will depend on what works were used, from what source, for what purpose, and with what controls on the outputs—all of which can affect the market.
Draft conclusion of the Report
The advent of text-based generative AI applications like GPT-4 and Bard, that scrape the Web for authors' content without permission or compensation and then use it to produce new content in response to users' prompts, is giving writers across the country even more cause for worry.
Chloe Veltman, National Public Radio reporter
I bless the Lord who gives me counsel;
In the night also my heart instructs me.
I keep the Lord always before me,
For God is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.
Psalm 16: 7-8