Looking at Some of the Policy Issues for Media and Music Companies From the Expanding Use of Artificial Intelligence

By: David Oxenford (Broadcast Law Blog)

Artificial intelligence is the talk of the town lately. Ever since ChatGPT3’s explosive public outing, tech companies big and small have announced new AI applications that will compete enter into direct competition with flesh-and-blood workers. This is only one among a multitude of issues that AI poses for society and almost every industry, and its implications for the media sector are of particular interest. These include creating music, writing scripts, reporting the news, and even acting as a Digital DJ for Spotify users.  All these activities raise competitive issues, but there are also a number of policy issues that have slowly bubbled to the surface. 

The most salient question for policy and politicians alike is whether artistic works created by AI are entitled to copyright protection. This issue was addressed by recent guidance from the Copyright Office, which suggests that a work created solely by a machine is not entitled to protection. However, there may be cases in which a person is providing sufficient guidance to the artificial intelligence such that the AI is seen as more of a tool for the person’s creativity, and that person can claim to be the creator of the work and receive copyright protection…

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