Amidst the U.S. Copyright Office's deliberations on artificial intelligence's ownership, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) joins the fray by conducting its own investigation into the applications of AI.
The consumer and competition agency has not traditionally intervened with copyrights started to dip in to the extensions of generative AI that could enable "unfair methods of competition."
The FTC filed a petition for investigation on OpenAI for possible scamming schemes as AI could mimic other people's works, deceiving consumers to the true authorship of a product or service. FTC also raised concerns about copyright violations due to AI' content scraping nature.
"The use of pirated or misuse of copyrighted materials could be an unfair practice or unfair method of competition under Section 5 of the FTC Act," the commission said in a statement.
FTC's Aggressive Stance Against AI Usage
Several critics are questioning FTC overstepping its bounds on the "Fair Use" for creative and derivative works, even those already copyrighted.
The commission reasoned that its conducts remain consistent with recent court cases on use and consideration of AI works, emphasizing that there is "no AI exemption from the laws on the books."
VentureBeat, Chamber of Progress CEO Adam Kovacevich contested FTC's statements as copyright issues have "always been something that is adjudicated in the courts" and not decided by an anti-monopoly agency.
AI-Made Content Authorship and Copyright Status
AI-generated content remains ineligible for copyright protection after the U.S. Copyright Office ruled that AI-sourced works are not product of human authorship.
At the same time, regulations on the extent of AI use and application remains murky. In October, Midjourney, Stability AI, and DeviantArt won a copyright infringement case due to how these software mainly train on open image-sourcing sites.
The U.S. Congress is currently making a blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights to protect artists and regulate use of AI to civil-related situations.
