AI and the Reinvention of Intellectual Property
A forceful debate arises where human creative capacity shares the stage with technology, blurring any distinction between them. Who or what will own an idea? A new 'hot potato' for capitalism.
In this 'wave' of exponential technological innovation, we face a turning point in our understanding of intellectual property. The emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) in the creative arena challenges our preconceived notions and radically democratizes creation and distribution.
For instance, can the reader confidently assert that "this column was written without the help of ChatGPT"? Nowadays, this implies a sea of ambiguities, all under a new truth: Authorship, in the context of AI, becomes a fluid concept that transcends from the act of creation to the ability to tangibilize an idea.
And so, what we considered 'central and unmovable' in Intellectual Property now seems archaic, and it only took two years...
- In November 2021, European Union regulations confirmed that non-human entities could not hold property rights.
- By March of this year, the United States Intellectual Property Office stated that works created with the help of AI could have copyright as long as the job involves sufficient human authorship.
- In July, at least 18,000 authors worldwide signed a petition to companies like OpenAI to control the use of their materials.
- Last week, Joe Biden and Xi Jinping sat down in an incredibly shiny San Francisco to discuss the issue, surrounded by most presidents of global conglomerates leading the technology.
Meanwhile, the hundreds of platforms currently available, like Midjourney, are improving their processes so that anyone can create animations in the style of Pixar, now so common on social media that it questions whether the visual style that made the animation studio famous will continue to be fashionable.
Because, as the theory goes, 'when everyone has something distinctive, it ceases to be so.' However, this mindset is also debatable, especially when people like Riley Brown (https://www.tiktok.com/@rileybrown.ai) revolutionize our interaction with Artificial Intelligence.
From TikTok, Brown teaches nearly half a million followers multiple ways to leverage and create high-level pieces using AI. It's a democratization of knowledge exercise where, more than proposing a discourse for or against, it acknowledges a new reality we should all know how to use.
For Brown, the challenge evolves to define the 'owner' of an idea... "The era of creativity that requires a lot of/expensive labor has come to an end. With the arrival of tools like Runway, Kaiber, or Krea AI, we have the power to create in ways that were previously unreachable, leveraging technology to tell our stories more visually and compellingly. This opportunity is now open to everyone."
Under Brown's premise, the new intellectual property is linked to a creative exercise where everyone (absolutely everyone) can create, with some priorities, "I see thousands of comments on my videos... and there is a clear desire to use AI to create coherent brands on social media and in various creative projects."
Thus, if everyone can create at the level of Scorsese, Coppola, Harari, Kanye, Lagerfeld, Kundera, or Pollock (who took decades to develop narrative and style; it is just normal that they are protecting their intangible heritage), the new challenge seems to be 'leveling up' and working together with Artificial Intelligence to create something unique.
Like the artistic work of Juan Maresca (https://www.instagram.com/laboca1979/), an Argentine publicist who found in Artificial Intelligence a way to pay tribute to his favorite artist, Benito Quinquela Martín, in the form of continuity of his work where imagination and nostalgia create a parallel world.
The artist, Maresca, takes advantage of the narrative resource frequently used by Quinquela around La Boca in Buenos Aires to create a work that apparently needed to be done around its colors and why they were born. Then, inspired by this area of the world, the work LoBoca1979 shows us a world where aliens and humans coexist in harmony in this neighborhood, enjoying soccer.
All created with AI, but for Maresca, the issue transcends... "Artificial intelligence is a new spatula, an extension of my creativity, not a substitute for my artistic vision. As an artist, I see AI as a dance partner in the vast ballroom of art; we guide each other, but I choose the music."
In this context, for Maresca, it's evident who holds the Intellectual Property, "I made with the help of artificial intelligence the painting that Quinquela had to do, with his style, colors, port, and workers. It's obvious that the idea is mine; neither Quinquela nor artificial intelligence thought of doing that."
However, this democratization brings with it deep ethical and legal dilemmas. Authors like Stephen King and Suzanne Collins are on the frontlines, defending copyright in a world where algorithms can replicate and transform their works. In music, the nearly perfect imitation of styles and artists like Drake or Bad Bunny raises questions about originality.
Artificial Intelligence is redefining what it means to be a creator and the governance that protects an idea. It's time to ensure it benefits everyone because, though it may not seem like it, creativity will continue as an industry; only its new business model will not consolidate and centralize gravitating to the 'Creative Industries' and their core talents.
Because being creative and being able to create is democratic in the era of artificial intelligence.