Generative AI meets copyright

Generative artificial intelligence (AI) is a disruptive technology that is widely adopted by members of the general public as well as scientists and technologists who are enthusiastic about the potential to accelerate research in a wide variety of fields. But some professional artists, writers, and programmers fiercely object to the use of their creations as training data for generative AI systems and to outputs that may compete with or displace their works (1, 2). Lack of attribution and compensation for use of their original creations are other sources of aggravation to critics of generative AI. Copyright lawsuits that are now underway in the United States have substantial implications for the future of generative AI systems. If the plaintiffs prevail, the only generative AI systems that may be lawful in the United States would be those trained on public domain works or under licenses, which will affect everyone who deploys generative AI, integrates it into their products, and uses it for scientific research.