GenAI tools ‘could not exist’ if firms are made to pay copyright::undefined

  • General_Effort@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    So… This may be an unpopular question. Almost every time AI is discussed, a staggering number of posts support very right-wing positions. EG on topics like this one: Unearned money for capital owners. It’s all Ayn Rand and not Karl Marx. Posters seem to be unaware of that, though.

    Is that the “neoliberal Zeitgeist” or what you may call it?

    I’m worried about what this may mean for the future.

    ETA: 7 downvotes after 1 hour with 0 explanation. About what I expected.

    • fhqwgads@possumpat.io
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      1 year ago

      I think it’s a conflation of the ideas of what copyright should be and actually is. I don’t tend to see many people who believe copyright should be abolished in its entirety, and if people write a book or a song they should have some kind of control over that work. But there’s a lot of contention over the fact that copyright as it exists now is a bit of a farce, constantly traded and sold and lasting an aeon after the person who created the original work dies.

      It seems fairly morally constant to think that something old and part of the zeitgeist should not be under copyright, but that the system needs an overhaul when companies are using your live journal to make a robot call center.

      • General_Effort@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Lemmy seems left-wing on economics in other threads. But on AI, it’s private property all the way, without regard for the consequences on society. The view on intellectual property is that of Ayn Rand. Economically, it does not get further to the right than that.

        My interpretation is that people go by gut feeling and never think of the consequences. The question is, why does their gut give them a far-right answer? One answer is that somehow our culture, at present, fosters such reactions; that it is the zeitgeist. If that’s the truth (and this reflects a wider trend) then inequality will continue to increase as a result of voter’s demands.

        • LainTrain@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          1 year ago

          Yeah I think that this is showing a lot of people only really care about espousing anti-privatization ideas as long as it suits their personal interests and as long as they feel they have more to gain than to lose. People are selfish, and a lot of progressive, or really any kind of passionate rhetoric is often conveniently self-serving and emotionally driven, rather than truly principled.

          • General_Effort@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            You’re not wrong but how many people here are actually pursuing their own personal interest. Most people here are probably wage-earners. Yet so many people support giving more money to property owners without any kind of requirement or incentive for work. Just a rent for property owners. It feels like this should be met with knee-jerk rejection.

    • JackGreenEarth@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      I see way too many people advocating for copyright. I understand in this case it benefits big companies rather than consumers, but if you disagree with copyright, as I do, you should be consistent.

      • Optional@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Copyright law should benefit humans, not machines, not corporations. And no, corporations are not people. Anthony Kennedy can get bent.

        • LainTrain@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          1 year ago

          Abolishing copyright in the way that allows for the existence of Gen AI benefits people far more than it does corpos

    • CurbsTickle@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I’d say the main reason is companies are profiting off the work of others. It’s not some grand positive motive for society, but taking the work of others, from other companies, sure, but also from small time artists, writers, etc.

      Then selling access to the information they took from others.

      I wouldn’t call it a right wing position.

      • General_Effort@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Wanting to abolish the IRS is a right-wing policy that will benefit the rich. That doesn’t change when some marketing genius talks about how the IRS takes money from small time artists, writers, etc. Same thing. It’s about substance and not manipulative framing.

        • CurbsTickle@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          That isn’t remotely similar…

          The IRS takes a portion of income. This is taking away someone’s income, then charging access to it.

          Like it or not, these people need money to survive. Calling it right wing to think these individuals deserve to be paid for someone taking their work, then using it for a product they sell access to, is absolutely insane to me.

            • CurbsTickle@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              One is a percentage of income that everyone pays into.

              The other is stealing someone’s work then using that person’s work for profit.

              Recognizing that stealing someone’s work is not a right-wing position.

              How is this complicated?

              • General_Effort@lemmy.world
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                1 year ago

                I see. Thanks for explaining.

                This view of property rights as absolute is what right-libertarians, anarcho-capitalists, etc… espouse. Usually the cries of “theft” come when it gets to taxes, though. Is it supposed to be not right because it’s about intellectual property?

                Property rights are not necessarily right-wing (communism notwithstanding). What is definitely right-wing is (heritable) privilege and that’s implied in these views of property.

                ETA: Just to make sure that I really understand what you are saying: When you say “stealing someone’s work” you do mean the unauthorized copying of copyrighted expression, yes? Do you actually understand that copyright is intellectual property and that property is not usually called work? Labor and capital are traditionally considered opposites, of a sort, particularly among the left.

                • CurbsTickle@lemmy.world
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                  1 year ago

                  So… You think their art or writing was created by what then? Magic? Do you think no time was expended in the creation of books, research, drawings, painted canvases, etc?

                  Do you think they should starve because we currently live in a world driven entirely around money?

                  I don’t get your point even remotely.

                  • General_Effort@lemmy.world
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                    1 year ago

                    I am just pointing out the meaning of words; originally just left vs right-wing.

                    Labor is not capital. The factories owned by Tesla were built by workers, just like the robots in them. Time was expended on their design. And yet, all that is still property. When some worker in such a factory takes a wrench home for personal use, then they are not stealing the work of Elon Musk or the other share-holders.


                    To make a point about policy: None of the owners of the NYT, or Getty, or others like them will starve because of fair use. They are rich people, they will stay rich, and I see no reason to give them more money simply because they own a lot of intellectual property. Anyone at actual risk of starving will only be hurt by sending more of the national income to the top.

                    US copyright exists “To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts”. The idea is that this can be achieved by introducing a profit motive. Requiring license fees for existing, publicly accessible works, can’t conceivably serve this purpose. It seems obvious that it will only hurt the purpose.

    • LainTrain@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      1 year ago

      I don’t know what you’re on about, the majority of the thread is pro open source AI and anti-capitalist, which is as left a stance as it gets, it’s not called “copyleft” for no reason. No one here wants to see AI banned and the already insane IP laws expanded to the benefit of the few corpos like the NYT at the expense of broader society.

      • General_Effort@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        IDK. I have seen a number of pro-corpo copyleft takes. It’s absolutely crazy to me. The pitch is that expansive copyright makes for expansive copyleft. It seems neo-feudal to me. The lords have their castles but the peasants have their commons.