More than 140,000 authors and performers in Germany are urging the European Union to strengthen their proposed rules for artificial intelligence (AI). Forty-two German associations and unions representing this group have written a letter with their concerns, highlighting the potential for copyright violations from ChatGPT, a generative AI.
The letter, seen by Reuters, highlighted the issues posed by generative AI, such as ChatGPT which can generate text and imagery from prompts. It stated that unauthorised usage of protected material, its non-transparent processing, as well as foreseeing the substitution of the sources for the output of the generative AI could cause substantial damage.
The letter proposed that these generative AI should be the centre of any market regulation and that providers of such technology should be held accountable for any content generated and disseminated. Microsoft, Alphabet’s Google, Amazon and Meta Platforms were listed as some of the providers of the foundation models.
The groups called for providers to be liable for any infringement of personal rights and copyrighted material, as well as any misinformation or discrimination caused. It was also suggested that providers offoundation models should be prohibited from operating any central platform service to distribute digital content.
Ultimately, the European Commission will decide the details of the AI rules after discussion with EU lawmakers and Members states.
The mentioned companies (Microsoft, Alphabet’s Google, Amazon and Meta Platforms) offer services related to artificial intelligence and technology. As providers of foundation models, these companies enable developers to create digital content with the help of their AI software. Microsoft provides the Azure AI platform and Google offers an AI accelerator program, among other services. Amazon Web Services has a wide range of AI offerings for developers and Meta Platforms specialize in computer-generated imagery.
Foo Yun Chee is the reporter involved with this story at Reuters who published the article. He is also an Editor and is based in Brussels. His main topics are in the area of technology and EU regulation, and he works to provide in-depth coverage of the latest developments in these areas of interest.
