The group of publishers warns that AI-generated content may violate copyright law

A publishers’ trade association including The New York Times, The Washington Post, Disney and NBCUniversalis reminding members that AI tools built on their archives could violate copyright laws.

According to a draft guideline from Digital Content Next that was shared with Marketing Brew, copyright laws protect content creators from unlicensed use of their content, and the use of copyrighted works in artificial intelligence systems is subject to review under copyright and fair use law. Furthermore, he says that most use of publishers’ original content by AI systems for both training and output purposes would likely go well beyond the scope of fair use as set forth in the Copyright Act and established case law.

The document, which has not yet been shared with members, also notes that the use of original content by [generative AI] systems for formation, surfacing or synthesis is not authorized by the terms and conditions of most publishers or contemplated by existing agreements.

Entitled Principles for the Development and Governance of Generative AI, the draft was written with input from members with the aim of providing publishers with a tool to aid discussions with generative AI companies, regulators and conversations internal, according to Jason Kint, CEO of Trade Groups.

As the advertising industry freaks out about generative AI, many publishers have raised alarm signals about the impact these tools could have on the media ecosystem. They expressed concern that the AI-generated responses are harvesting information from behind paywalls and how these tools could potentially reduce site traffic.

Some also fear that these models were trained on the contents of their archives without compensation or proper credit to the publisher. The publishers created this original content. They have the right to monetize it, and any kind of unauthorized use undermines their business model and is a violation of copyright law, said Chris Pedigo, DCN’s SVP of Government Affairs.

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, maker of ChatGPT, told the Wall Street Journal that the company has done a lot with fair use, the legal doctrine that allows copyrighted material to be used without permission under certain circumstances. He also said the company has made deals for content.

Kint declined to say whether any of its members were considering legal action over copyright issues related to generative AI. Still, publishers should have a seat at the table and an opportunity to discuss potential compensation and how information pulled from their archives will be credited, she said. There are many different ways they can choose to negotiate, but that negotiation should happen.

In addition to calling for stricter regulations that could help publishers protect their intellectual property, the draft states that AI tools should include clear and prominent attributions so users can identify the original sources of the output and encourage users to navigate to those sources.

Several publishers have indicated that they believe Generative AI is more than just a hype cycle, with some using it on their own sites. In May, The Washington Post created an AI Task Force to explore the significant opportunities offered by AI. Axios co-founder and CEO Jim Vanderhai wrote an article predicting that AI will soon transform media on a scale and pace that rivals the internet two decades ago.

OpenAI representatives attended a DCN board meeting in April, Kint said. The DCN Board of Directors includes representatives from Fox News, the Associated Press and Warner Bros. Discovery. OpenAI did not respond to a request for comment from Marketing Brew.

The Wall Street Journal previously reported that the News Media Alliance, another publishing trade group, had recently held AI meetings with its members.

Axel Springer, owner of Morning Brew, is a member of DCN.