Generative AI is making astronomical profits by trampling authors and publishers

World IP Day is typically a moment every April when authors and publishers around the world celebrate the importance of copyright law to the creative economy and the long-term public interest. But this year we're fighting policy battles that are unprecedented if not non-existent in scope, as big tech companies double down on refusing to pay for scores of creatives who can't afford their highly profitable, consumer-facing generatives. AI fuels the tools.

These big tech companies and their investors—the largest, richest, and most powerful companies in the world—have blatantly copied, scrapped, and copied copyrighted literature, news media publications, and other original works—without transparency or apology. Otherwise customized. their own commercial interests. As reported by CNN, some of the companies looted the Books3 database, a pirated collection, containing about 183,000 copyrighted works. Others have been secretive about the sources they used, but researchers estimate that they downloaded large numbers of books from other notorious pirate sites. Of course, they copied proprietary content from media and news services, including scraping millions of articles from behind the New York Times paywall.

Creative AI tools are exciting, but they also pose serious risks that require entirely new levels of legal and ethical considerations. Europe has approached this exercise with an urgency that is appropriate but still unfolding for the implementation of the 2024 EU AI Act by member states. Here in the United States, the conversation continues, but the development, use, and deployment of AI remains woefully underregulated. Copyright is a key part of regulation, because neither the tools nor the associated profits of big tech would ever be possible if not for the enormously valuable authorship that allows the technology to be created—or more appropriately. , reproducing—coherent, intelligent text of human expression, including, in some cases, outputs that can serve as market substitutes.

There is nothing fair or ethical about ignoring this foundation, or the express rights of authors and publishers to recoup their intellectual and financial investment when their works are in demand. In contrast, the Copyright Act has long prioritized authors' contributions to society by giving authors a bundle of exclusive rights to their works, which they can license or, at their discretion, not license. may deny, for fair payment to others, including rights to reproduce their works or create derivative works thereof.

Sadly, the big tech companies have declared to both policymakers and courts that they have no intention of seeking permission, much less compensation, for the work they have done and continue to do. Arguing that fair copying is fair use at issue, and, further, that licensing would be too burdensome for them to consider. That's not how laws should work. Indeed, if the moment weren't so serious, it would be laughable to everyone involved that many of the companies behind driverless cars and private rocket ships would find it hard to even imagine digital licensing.

As Congress well knows, copyright is a fundamentally important right expressly recognized by the U.S. Constitution, not an insignificant inconvenience that can be ignored by downstream inventors or investors. Is. Copyright is the means by which authors and publishers are encouraged to write, publish, inspire, and inform—important roles that are more essential than ever in the face of countless serious threats to democracy.

Big Tech wants to pass on the indiscriminate customizations they've already started and continue to push for their advantages. There is no single, rational reason to accommodate them, but on this World IP Day and every other day, there are plenty of important reasons to protect the lives of authors and publishers around the world.

Maria Palante is the CEO of the Association of American Publishers, Mary Rasenberger is the CEO of the Writers Guild, and Daniel Coffey is the CEO of the News Media Alliance.

World IP Day is an event in Geneva of the World Intellectual Property Organization, which administers copyright treaties and other intergovernmental IP instruments.