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By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson
Also today: AI Rights: Asimov, Adler, and ‘Created by Humans’
Armstrong: ‘It’s Possible To Be Pro-AI and Pro-Copyright’
Even as lawsuits and tense exchanges go on around unlicensed use of copyrighted content to train their LLMs (large language models), the United States-based Copyright Clearance Center (CCC) today (July 16) has announced a new collective licensing approach for content usage in internal AI systems.
Seated in the company’s Annual Copyright Licenses division, this construct is based in a subscription model the company says “offers rights from millions of works to businesses that subscribe.”
“The inclusion of AI re-use rights,” according to today’s media messaging from CCC, “makes the Annual Copyright Licenses” service what it says is the first such collective licensing approach of is kind for the internal use (such as training) of copyrighted materials in AI systems.
The license, CCC says, “enables participating rightsholders to fulfill the needs of companies that require an efficient way to legally acquire the rights to use copyrighted materials in AI systems for internal use.”
Tracey Armstrong
In a comment on today’s announcement, CCC president and CEO Tracey Armstrong is quoted, saying, “It’s possible to be pro-AI and pro-copyright, and to couple AI with respect for creators.
“Responsible AI starts with licensing, and in developing this license, CCC enables users to efficiently gain access to a consistent set of rights across many rights holders and returns royalties to rights holders as compensation for use of their works.”
Publishing Perspectives readers, of course, are very familiar with both Copyright Clearance Center and the copyright infringement controversy around generative AI use of published works.
In its announcement today, CCC’s team writes, “Advances in AI systems are impacting all industries, speeding up research and development, and improving operational efficiency. AI systems rely on a variety of materials, including high-quality copyrighted content, to deliver the most meaningful value. These systems rely on content and the creation and storage of copies that can be accessed for future reference.”
The company’s Annual Copyright Licenses response, CCC says, can “effectively enable the use of copyrighted materials with AI systems, which create copies and retain the expression of the original works on which they’re trained. The license provides users with a harmonized set of internal-use AI rights from a broad range of rights holders and provides rights holders with remuneration for these new uses of their content.”
Pallante: ‘Essential To Protect Both Authors and Publishers’
The Association of American Publishers (AAP) has been particularly forward-leaning in its examination of AI systems’ operations by way of defending the copyrighted intellectual property of its publisher-members and their authors.
Maria A. Pallante
While AAP is not directly connected to CCC’s new platform, a spokesman says, CCC has long been a licensor for many of the association’s member companies. AAP has “strongly encouraged CCC and other emerging licensing platforms,” this spokesman says, “to address AI rights because new technologies drive new market opportunities and if publishers and authors choose to license AI rights, they will benefit from innovative leaders who can bridge the gap between copyright owners and responsible tech companies. ”
Our readership will recall that the AAP’s work in this sphere has included its support of the efforts of Ed Newton-Rex’s Fairly Trained, for example, featured in May in the organization’s annual meeting. And In addition to inviting CCC to speak to AAP members earlier this summer, the association, Publishing Perspectives understands, has hosted similar sessions with Calliope Networks, Human Native AI, and Created by Humans in recent weeks. (See today’s article with Trip Adler and Jen Singerman of Created by Humans.)
AAP president and CEO Maria A. Pallante, who has joined us onstage in several major publishing trade-show events to discuss copyright threats, is quoted in today’s announcement, saying, “For AI to advance ethically and in a sustainable manner, it’s essential to both protect authors and publishers from infringement and incentivize them to participate.
“Efficient, voluntary licensing solutions are a win-win for everybody in the value chain, including AI developers who want to do the right thing.
“I am grateful to organizations like CCC, as they are helping the next generation marketplace to evolve robustly and in forward-thinking fashion.”
More from Publishing Perspectives on artificial intelligence and publishing is here, more on the work of Copyright Clearance Center is here, more on the Association of American Publishers and Maria A. Pallante’s direction of it is here, and more on copyright issues in publishing is here.
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