ChatGPT, AI must buy news

According to the CEO of News Corp Australia, developers of artificial intelligence (AI)-powered applications should pay for the news and material used to enhance their products.

In an editorial published in The Australian on April 2, Michael Miller urged “creators of original news and material” to avoid the mistakes that “decimated their businesses” by allowing digital companies to profit from using their stories and information without payment.

Chatbots are software that consumes news, data, and other material to generate responses that mimic written or spoken human speech, with OpenAI’s ChatGPT-4 chatbot being the most renowned.

According to Miller, the rapid emergence of generative AI is another drive-by by big digital firms to create “a new pot of gold to maximize revenue and profit by stealing the intellectual content of others without compensating them for their original work.”

Miller argued, using OpenAI as an example, that the corporation “quickly developed a $30 billion business” by “taking the original content and ingenuity of others without compensation and acknowledgment.”

In 2021, the Australian federal government introduced the News Media Bargaining Code, which requires tech platforms in Australia to compensate news publishers for the news material they make accessible or link to.

Miller asserts that comparable legislation is required for AI to ensure that all content creators are fairly reimbursed for their efforts.

“Creators deserve to be rewarded for their original work being used by AI engines which are raiding the style and tone of not only journalists but (to name a few) musicians, authors, poets, historians, painters, filmmakers and photographers.”

More than 2,600 IT professionals and researchers recently signed an open letter calling for a temporary halt to the development of artificial intelligence (AI), citing “grave hazards to society and mankind.”

Meanwhile, Italy’s data protection agency issued a temporary shutdown of ChatGPT and launched an inquiry into alleged violations of data privacy regulations.

Miller believes that both content creators and AI businesses may benefit from such an agreement as opposed to outright bans or restrictions on the technology.

He explained that with “proper safeguards,” AI has the potential to become a significant journalistic resource and can aid in the creation of content, “collect facts more quickly,” assist in publishing on numerous platforms, and speed up video production.

Although still in its infancy, the crypto sector is beginning to witness more AI-powered ventures.

Miller feels the future success of AI engines is at risk if they cannot persuade the public that their information is trustworthy and reliable; “to achieve this, they will need to compensate people who supply the foundation for their success equitably.”