The United States Copyright Office issued an official request for comments and notice of inquiry on copyright and artificial intelligence (AI) in the Federal Register on Aug. 30.
The Copyright Office issued a notice of inquiry in the Federal Register seeking public comment on questions about copyright law and policy issues raised by AI systems. Initial comments are due by October 18, 2023. Reply comments are due November 15, 2023. https://t.co/fNiHB1W7SIpic.twitter.com/3vNBRNxGJj
According to the filing, the Copyright Office is seeking “factual information and views” on copyright issues raised by recent advances in generative AI models such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Bard.
In a press release sent via email from the Library of Congress and viewed by Cointelegraph, the U.S. Copyright Office stated:
“These issues include the use of copyrighted works to train AI models, the appropriate levels of transparency and disclosure with respect to the use of copyrighted works, the legal status of AI-generated outputs, and the appropriate treatment of AI-generated outputs that mimic personal attributes of human artists.”
Those interested in commenting during the official inquiry period will have until Oct. 18 to do so.
The request comes during a tumultuous time for the AI industry with regards to regulation in the U.S. and around the world. While the EU and other territories have enacted policies to protect citizen privacy and limit how corporations can use, share, and sell data, there’s been little in the way of regulation concerning the use of copyrighted material to train or prompt AI systems.
As Cointelegraph reported previously, the media industry is grappling with how to deal with the emergence of AI systems capable of imitating the work of creators and artists. The New York Times and other news agencies have taken steps to block web crawlers from AI companies seeking to train their models on their data.
Beyond copyright issues, there are also concerns related to AI involving misalignment (the idea that the machines could have objectives that clash with the wellbeing of humanity) and the mass proliferation of misinformation.
The U.S. government has held a series of meetings with stakeholders in the AI community, with the next, a closed-door meeting between Senator Chuck Schumer and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, slated for Sep. 13.
Canterbury MP Rosie Duffield has resigned from the Labour Party.
The 53-year-old MP is the first to jump ship since the general election and in her resignation letter criticised the prime minister for accepting thousands of pounds worth of gifts.
She told Sir Keir Starmer the reason for leaving now is “the programme of policies you seem determined to stick to”, despite their unpopularity with the electorate and MPs.
In her letter she accused the prime minister and his top team of “sleaze, nepotism and apparent avarice” which are “off the scale”.
“I’m so ashamed of what you and your inner circle have done to tarnish and humiliate our once proud party,” she said.
Since December 2019, the prime minister received £107,145 in gifts, benefits, and hospitality – a specific category in parliament’s register of MPs’ interests.
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Ms Duffield, who has previously clashed with the prime minister on gender issues, attacked the government for pursuing “cruel and unnecessary” policies as she resigned the Labour whip.
She criticised the decision to keep the two-child benefit cap and means-test the winter fuel payment, and accused the prime minister of “hypocrisy” over his acceptance of free gifts from donors.
“Since the change of government in July, the revelations of hypocrisy have been staggering and increasingly outrageous,” she said.
“I cannot put into words how angry I and my colleagues are at your total lack of understanding about how you have made us all appear.”
Ms Duffield also mentioned the recent “treatment of Diane Abbott”, who said she thought she had been barred from standing by Labour ahead of the general election, before Sir Keir said she would be allowed to defend her Hackney North and Stoke Newington seat for the party.
Her relationship with the Labour leadership has long been strained and her decision to quit the party comes after seven other Labour MPs were suspended for rebelling by voting for a motion calling for the two-child benefit cap to be abolished.
“Someone with far-above-average wealth choosing to keep the Conservatives’ two-child limit to benefit payments which entrenches children in poverty, while inexplicably accepting expensive personal gifts of designer suits and glasses costing more than most of those people can grasp – this is entirely undeserving of holding the title of Labour prime minister,” she said.
Ms Duffield said she will continue to represent her constituents as an independent MP, “guided by my core Labour values”.