WHO OWNS ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE?
Year: 2024
Editor: Grierson, Hilary; Bohemia, Erik; Buck, Lyndon
Author: Tully, Robert
Series: E&PDE
Institution: Technical University Dublin, Ireland
Page(s): 545 - 550
DOI number: 10.35199/EPDE.2024.92
ISBN: 978-1-912254-200
ISSN: 3005-4753
Abstract
This paper sets out to interrogate the legitimate concerns and issues around the rights and ownership of AI-assisted and AI-generated work in the future. The intention is to map out the current debate and legal frameworks to determine what the new frontier of intellectual property rights may look like as we cross into the uncharted landscape of artificial intelligence and its implications for creativity. AI presents us with both societal altering opportunities and challenges. The often-dystopian representation of advanced AI in popular culture may well colour our perception of its potential and power. However, we are now at the dawn of an era where AI will undoubtedly impact on each and every citizen on the planet. Its potential for good and bad is increasingly being discussed and debated against a background of many other profound challenges of our time. Arguably the ability for humans to make good and appropriate choices regarding their creative and imaginative interventions in the world remains questionable. Will we be any different with AI interventions? With that in mind, the focus of this paper is to consider and interrogate the nature and effect of ownership of AI both now and into the near future. The question of intellectual property rights and ownership around AI and its outputs is likely to be both disruptive and contested. Its integration into the everyday lives of citizens is increasingly ubiquitous and authorities are struggling to find ways to regulate both its application and ownership. Those in control of AI will wield enormous power and influence, for good and for bad. Even before we address the question of the impact of ownership around AI, we must acknowledge that Intellectual Property (IP) itself is contested in terms of its control and value. However, in general there is acceptance of the legal framework that protects intellectual property under the guidance of the United Nations World Intellectual Property Organisation. It is generally agreed that Intellectual property is that property that emanates from the creations of the human mind. The purpose of intellectual property rights and protection is to give the creator an exclusive right over the use of their creation for an agreed period of time to enable them to accrue some technical or economic benefit from their creation or innovation. Intellectual property rights therefore enable and support an ecosystem of creativity and innovation that drives cultural, scientific and technological pursuits. AI may well pose a threat to this ecosystem. Legal and ethical concerns have begun to emerge as to whether generative AI programs may infringe copyright of existing works. Further concerns arise as the discussion embraces the possibility of AI itself being granted Intellectual property rights. The issue of AI creation, authorship, and inventorship has implications for global IP policy. The issues raised here may have considerable impact on both Engineering and Design Practice and education in terms of how we engage with and exploit the benefits of generative AI without losing the integrity and motivation of the human creative endeavour.
Keywords: intellectual property rights, creativity, ownership, authorship