Technology

Google Targeted With Class Action Suit Over Its AI Usage

Interesting times for IP!

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942310There has been a lot of intrigue in computer-made art since the advent of easily accessible AI generated images and content. As the mystery of how mere algorithms were able to respond with detailed (and occasionally many-fingered) productions of image requests, artists collectively got pissed off. Like, really pissed off — artists at conventions displaying AI-generated art can risk getting kicked off the premises:

Why? Because from an artist’s point of view, the way that the algorithms “learn” looks a lot like theft. Many artists see the proliferation of AI as a threat to their livelihoods and intellectual property. To defend them, artists are taking some pretty big names to defend their craft from being appropriated by learning models. In short, Google better lawyer up. From Reuters:

Google has been hit with a new copyright lawsuit in California federal court by a group of visual artists who claimed the Alphabet unit used their work without permission to train Imagen, its artificial-intelligence powered image generator.

Photographer Jingna Zhang and cartoonists Sarah Andersen, Hope Larson and Jessica Fink said in the proposed class action filed Friday that Google is liable for misusing “billions” of copyrighted images, including theirs, to teach Imagen how to respond to human text prompts.

Google shouldn’t be a newcomer to pushback like this; lawyers at the massively popular search engine and surveillance site have to be aware of the “AI Is Theft” sentiment that has been brooding for years now. It is hard to determine the bright line for inspiration and straight up yoinking what’s not yours, but there are some very reasonable arguments that put AI’s image combing well past the line:

We’ve seen smaller AI use cases like the posthumous “George Carlin” special that was taken down after his estate threatened to sue, but Google is a huge player with a big legal team and a lot more money in the game. Should it get to trial, the outcomes of this case will set the tone for balancing algorithmic learning, commerce, and property rights.

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Google Sued By US Artists Over AI Image Generator [Reuters]

Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord™ in the Facebook group Law School Memes for Edgy T14s.  He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who cannot swim, a published author on critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at cwilliams@abovethelaw.com and by tweet at @WritesForRent.

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