With Generative AI it must be Buyer Beware

The letters column of The Guardian has been carrying several comments from readers about the media owner’s decision to block Open GI, which powers ChatGPT, from harvesting its content. Many of these correspondents argue that The Guardian should set aside its commercial interests and concerns about intellectual property and allow developers of artificial intelligence tools to use its content to “train” its own content generating machines.

The Guardian is not alone in taking this approach. Other reputable media outlets on both sides of the Atlantic are doing the same.

They are right to do so.

The argument that if you do not allow AI developers to exploit quality content then the output of their products will be poor quality because it must draw on less reputable sources is deeply flawed. Of course the developers want to be able to draw on a wide variety of sources, especially those that have invested time, money and skills in producing top quality content. It is in their commercial interests to do so. If their products produce rubbish then people will not want them – once they realise they are not reliable. It is not the job of The Guardian and the content creators that work for it and other media outlets to boost the profits of AI developers.

If the developers of AI products want to use content created by others they should negotiate proper terms and offer appropriate payment for doing so.

This seems very reminiscent of the early days of the internet when some people threw their hands up in horror at the idea that they might actually have to pay for some online content. Many argued that the internet was an open shop where anyone could use anyone else’s content – be that words, images, illustrations – without having to pay the creators. Of course, those same people would never contemplate working for nothing themselves.

We seem to be allowing artificial intelligence to drag us back into that dismal space where people think it is OK to rip off other people’s work and not pay for it.

It is not the job of content creators or media owners to polish up AI products. That is the job of developers. They will have to work much harder in vetting sources, checking facts and editing the output. Just like the rest of us who have ever worked in publishing, journalism and the creative industries do.

In the meantime, that old adage “Buyer Beware” must be first and foremost in the minds of the users of generative AI tools.