"We've got to get this right," declared Maria Pallante, president and CEO of the Association of American Publishers—a sentiment later echoed by several speakers during "The Story Starts With Us," a day-long forum held Tuesday in Washington D.C., to address the threat generative AI poses to copyright law and the creative industries. The event was co-hosted by the AAP and the Copyright Alliance and brought together more 100 authors, journalists, publishers, songwriters, legal experts, lawmakers, and technologists to address what many characterized as an existential threat to creative professions, including writers and musicians.
Pallante noted that creators contribute more than $2 trillion to the U.S. GDP. "In this moment, where books and news reporting and songs and other works of authorship are so tremendously important to our world that we live in, we have to get it right," she emphasized. "So, it's a moment for collaboration between sectors, lawful markets. But it's not a moment for expediency or piracy."
In his opening remarks, Keith Kupferschmid, CEO of the Copyright Alliance, emphasized the central question facing policymakers: "As they weigh the benefits and risks of Generative AI technologies, the question of how to protect and incentivize the creative and intellectual expression of humans is of critical importance." He underscored that "authors and publishers are first in line in the AI value chain—books, songs, and other works of authorship are of tremendous importance to global AI markets and framing the regulatory landscape going forward."
In a keynote speech, Sen. Peter Welch of Vermont emphasized the critical role creative industries play in society, especially in challenging times. "The work of the creative community has never been more important and never more needed than it is right now," he stated. "The real contribution that the creative community makes—that the arts make—in music and literature and film, whatever that form may be, is to help us understand the world we're in."
Welch then outlined what is at stake. "Now, as generative AI [emerges], can that work be silently appropriated and monetized essentially by corporate interests that had nothing to do with the creation...and deny any compensation with the artist and the creator is entitled to."
Before anything can happen, he said, "the real challenge here is that we don't know what went into those algorithms to create the ultimate product... We've never had this tool of generative AI, where you're an artist Creator. The generative AI company has appropriated your work, and you don't have the clue as to whether or not your work is part of what is the ultimate outcome."
To wit, in November last year Welch introduced the TRAIN Act (Transparency and Responsibility for Artificial Intelligence Networks) to Congress. This legislation seeks to create an administrative subpoena process to help copyright owners identify whether their copyrighted works have been used in training generative AI models.
"What we are trying to do in this legislation is acknowledge first and foremost, that the creator is entitled to effective copyright protections and compensation for the work that's done," Welsh said. "The principle here is the same as we've always had, and that is, the creator is entitled to the protection... What we're trying to apply it to is this whole new world that we're in where generative AI can just vacuum up everything."
He added, "The main reason it's so profoundly important is not just to protect the content and the monetary compensations that artists are entitled to, it's really to make certain that the artistic community can continue...The world of creation is preferable to the world of destruction."
Throughout the day, several politicians offered short video messages in support of copyright protections for creators. These included Sen. Marsha Blackburn (TN); Rep. Judy Chu (CA-28th); Rep. Ben Cline (VA-6th); Sen. Chris Coons (DE); Sen. Martin Heinrich (NM); and Sen. Adam Schiff (CA).
Calling for unity
Later in the day, Bob Goodlatte, former Republican Congressman from Virginia, sat for a conversation with Pallante, who worked with Goodlatte during her previous role as Register of Copyrights from 2011 to 2016.
"AI is a wonderful new technology. It is something that I use almost every hour of every day," Goodlatte admitted. "But it is also still absolutely critical to build it on the foundation of human creativity because it is not a substitute for human creativity."
Goodlatte, who served in Congress for 26 years and chaired the Judiciary Committee from 2013 to 2019, highlighted the constitutional basis for intellectual property protection. "It's right there in the heart of the Constitution — it is explicitly authorized in the Constitution—Article One, Section Eight, Clause Eight," Goodlatte said. He added “It’s also right there at the heart of the Judiciary Committee.”
Pallante, emphasized that copyright is "explicitly authorized in the Constitution" and that the first Congress enacted the initial Copyright Act in 1790, covering "books, maps, and charts."
The duo noted that copyright protection has historically been a bipartisan issue and dismissed concerns raised by technology companies that copyright protections should be weakened to accommodate AI innovation. “ ‘Creators are in the way, copyright had a good run, it's a new world.’ We keep hearing it, and it's all familiar. None of it is new. None of it is true,” Pallante said.
Pallante added: "The argument is that they have to dismantle and trample copyright, not pay creators, not recognize the human expression that is the value that makes generative AI possible in the first place," Pallante said.
Both speakers rejected the notion that copyright protection hampers innovation. "Creativity goes hand in hand with the advancement of technology. The advancement of technology is itself creativity," Goodlatte said. Pallante highlighted the "value chain of copyright" from authors to publishers and beyond as "very exciting when it works," adding that "it does work, despite the rhetoric that it's not working, and that it needs to be dismantled."
Goodlatte referenced suggestions that a failure to alter copyright laws to cater to AI companies will ultimately result in the U.S. falling behind China, calling such arguments “un-American” and illogical.
"I'm very pleased that we have companies that have dominated the world in terms of technology, but let's not overlook the fact that we have individuals and companies that have dominated the world in terms of all forms of creative expression and the two put together are... I hate to say the word invincible, but that's what they are." He pointed out that there were several instances where Chinese AI technology has been copied from U.S. AI companies. "China steals everything,” Goodlatte said. “We do not get ahead in the world by copying China."
On potential Congressional action, Goodlatte suggested that licensing agreements between content creators and technology companies are already emerging, potentially reducing the immediate need for new legislation. However, he acknowledged that Congress should remain vigilant against piracy and copyright abuses.
Pallante cautioned against statutory licensing schemes that would undermine creators' exclusive rights guaranteed in the Constitution. "If we get to a copyright system where we are not any longer talking about exclusive rights, but talking about some regulated environment...we're not really talking about a copyright act anymore," she warned.
Goodlatte concluded by calling for unity among creative sectors. "It is so important that every sector of the creative community come together and stand strongly in this area, because every sector will be impacted by one form of AI or another," he said. "I want to see them succeed. I want to see them create great new things with AI, but I want to see the people who've actually done the real creativity, not just the ones who've written the algorithms... be rewarded maybe first and foremost as the Constitution requires."
