Alternate Title
An Unauthorized Renaissance? An Analysis of Artists’ Claims for Copyright Infringement Against AI Generated Art and Possible Defenses
Keywords
AI generated art, training images, diffusion method, unauthorized copy, scraping, derivative work, fair use, transformative fair use
Abstract
AI currently presents a novel issue in terms of copyright infringement, specifically AI generated art. Recently, a group of artists filed a class action lawsuit against several AI generated art companies. This comment evaluates the potential avenues the court may take. The artists allege these AI generated art companies directly infringed on their copyrighted works by making unauthorized copies of copyrighted works which they used to train their machine learning programs. A determination on whether AI generated art constitutes copyright infringement has not been made by the courts before. To bring a successful copyright infringement claim, a party must show proof of a valid copyright and actual infringement. Copying is considered an infringing act. There is currently a circuit split on whether downloading a copyrighted work constitutes copying. Should the court in the instant lawsuit follow the Seventh, Ninth, and D.C. Circuits, downloading unauthorized copies of copyrighted work to train machine learning programs would be copyright infringement. This comment evaluates a potential fair use defense the AI generated art companies may pursue and its viability. Lastly, the court may take into account policy considerations regarding innovation being stifled by AI generated art and unfair competition.
Recommended Citation
Victoria Young, An Unauthorized Renaissance? An Analysis of Artists’ Claims for Copyright Infringement Against AI Generated Art and Possible Defenses, 18 FIU L. Rev. 521 (2024), https://doi.org/10.25148/lawrev.18.2.14.
