A court in the Chinese city of Shenzen has decided that an article that was written by an artificial intelligence program has copyright protection. The article was written by Tencent’s Dreamwriter AI Writing Robot, an internal code at the Chinese tech giant that produces half a million articles per year Read more…
Something is happening with the way in which we acquire and share knowledge, something that might explain the current issues that we are having with the spread of disinformation. The steady erosion of authority and expertise is a well-documented phenomenon, but what is interesting is what is replacing it. While Read more…
The first experience that most modern creators will have of copyright is through social media, and particularly through YouTube. In the early days of the network, YouTube had the reputation that it was mostly built on infringing content, users would upload video clips and sometimes entire shows without permission, and Read more…
These are interesting times for cryptocurrencies. One could argue that a currency that is now over 10 years old should have achieved further dissemination, this week we will see the number of mined coins at 18 million., signalling the slow and steady race towards 21 million coins, the maximum there Read more…
While most of the writing with regards to artificial intelligence and copyright in recent years has been centred around the subject of authorship, perhaps the most important aspect of the question is that of copyright infringement. What happens when you train machine learning algorithms with works that are protected by Read more…
It’s been a while since I have written about AI and copyright, although I have been presenting about it quite a lot. I wrote a paper entitled “Do Androids Dream of Electric Copyright?” in 2017, and then a shorter version for WIPO Magazine (it’s sobering how many more people cite Read more…
(This is my presentation at Gikii 2019 in Queen Mary, London. Slides Here). Cyber-dystopianism For many years, we thought of the Internet as inherently good, a unique innovation that would bring about a better world through technology. The Internet could empower people to become educated and better versions of themselves. Read more…
I recently read a Vice article entitled “I Miss My iPod Classic More Than Anything” with a mixture of appreciation and smugness. As the proud owner of an iPod Classic, I tend to agree with all the sentiments expressed, with the added pleasure of still being able to listen to Read more…
It’s been an interesting few weeks in Cryptoland. Facebook finally unveiled it’s rumoured cryptocurrency called Libra, a joint effort with companies such as PayPal, Uber, Visa, Mastercard, and many others. Libra’s stated purpose is to provide a payment system that will be easy to use and cheap, bringing financial services Read more…
It’s been an eventful couple of weeks for YouTube specifically, and for Internet moderation in general. It all started with YouTube’s controversial decision not to ban a famous content creator for instigating anti-gay and racist abuse. Then they were applauded in some circles for banning a number of neo-Nazi and Read more…