Entertainment industry employees concerned about their voices being misused by artificial intelligence (AI) have signed preliminary agreements with Warner Music Group (NASDAQ: WMG), Sony Music Entertainment and other record labels.
The deal calls for higher minimum wages and better benefits, as well as consent and compensation for songs featuring digital replicas of artists’ voices.
The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) represents approximately 160,000 actors and media professionals. The “recording contract” covers the period from 2021 to 2026, and was approved unanimously by the executive committee. Member states could vote on ratification in the coming weeks.
Growing concerns about AI using data without consent
There is little doubt that AI is the next big thing. Since the release of his ChatGPT in November 2022, AI models of all kinds have become widespread, including text, image, and video generation models.
It didn’t take long for writers, photographers, actors, singers, and artists of all kinds to sound the alarm about AI models using their work without permission. There have already been some interesting lawsuits related to this issue, including one against OpenAI by several prominent authors.
But open-source AI tools that can generate everything from fake Drake songs to deep nudes of Taylor Swift continue to gain traction, with copyrighted material, intellectual property, and even ordinary people’s images and sounds continuing to grow. It’s already difficult to police abuse. And do the work.
Can blockchain technology help? Actually, it can be done in several ways.
How blockchain technology can help tame AI
Thinking about blockchain as an immutable ledger and distributed database helps clarify what role blockchain can play in solving problems related to AI. Time-stamped records written to the blockchain cannot be changed by anyone without the consent of a majority of network nodes, creating complete transparency into what, when, and who performed an action. .
Digital rights management: Secure and transparent digital rights management solutions like Rare Generation demonstrate how works of art can be tokenized on the blockchain and retain terms of use, ownership, and distribution rights. You can also ensure that artists receive ongoing payments through micropayments for the use of works they own or contribute to.
Author’s certification: Anyone can register their works on the blockchain. This serves as important evidence of ownership and authorship at a particular point in time. The first person to register something is not necessarily the rightful legal owner, but evidence that the person owned the artwork at some point strengthens the case for ownership. will be done. If AI is found to be plagiarizing or abusing information, legal action may be taken.
Monitoring and enforcement: The ultimate use case for blockchain technology is integrating with AI, the internet, and other technologies to monitor unauthorized use of copyrighted content, such as artists’ voices and images. Violations are time-stamped and can result in automatic warnings and notices, demands for compensation, and other actions.
smart contract: Artists concerned about how their images and sounds are used by record labels, movie studios, and other entertainment companies can use smart contracts to automatically enforce their terms. can do. Immutable ledgers can also be used to prove agreed terms, automate royalty payments, revoke rights, and prove abuse.
Specific blockchain tools exist for some of these use cases, while others need to be built. Either way, scalable utility blockchains can be a useful tool for enforcing rights and mitigating abuse in the age of AI.
For artificial intelligence (AI) to function properly within the law and succeed in the face of growing challenges, it must integrate enterprise blockchain systems that ensure the quality and ownership of data input. This makes it possible to ensure data security while also guaranteeing immutability. of data. To learn more about why enterprise blockchain is the backbone of AI, check out CoinGeek’s coverage of this emerging technology.
See: AI is meant to “augment” the workforce, not replace it
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