Al and Copyright: Legal Realities and Ethical Questions
Posted by anne.grey
Presenter: Rachel Bridgewater
Summary
In this presentation, Cascade Faculty Librarian Rachel Bridgewater explores the complex intersection of copyright law and generative artificial intelligence. She examines four key legal questions: whether AI outputs can be copyrighted, if generated content infringes on existing works, whether training models on copyrighted data constitutes fair use, and how feeding material into AI impacts copyright. Through recent case law, Bridgewater demonstrates why copyright law is often an imperfect tool for addressing ethical concerns around AI and explains why meaningful solutions will likely rely on ethical norms, licensing frameworks, and broader labor regulations.
Presentation Outcomes
- Understand why AI-generated outputs are currently ineligible for copyright protection under U.S. law.
- Distinguish between legal copyright infringement and ethical concerns regarding generative AI training models.
- Analyze how fair use legal precedents apply to text and data mining in large language models.
- Recognize the practical limitations of copyright law for protecting creators and explore alternative regulatory solutions.
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