How to apply copyright to artificial intelligence (AI)? This question remains unresolved. And gives rise to several reports and initiatives from stakeholders, while the implementation of the European AI Act regulation and its most controversial provision is being negotiated in Brussels: the obligation, for manufacturers of AI models such as OpenAI, Google or Mistral, to provide a “sufficiently detailed summary” content − articles, books, photos, music, videos, etc. − used to train their software. The prospect of the Summit for Action on Artificial Intelligence on February 10 and 11, 2025, in Paris, reinforces the challenge.
On Monday, December 9, a long-awaited report on the implementation of the AI Act, commissioned by the resigning Minister of Culture, Rachida Dati, was presented to the Superior Council of Literary and Artistic Property (CSPLA). Its author, university professor Alexandra Bensamoun, offers a “ambitious interpretation” from the text: “Its aim is to allow the exercise of the rights of content owners”explains the lawyer, in reference to the desire of press groups, publishers and producers of films or records to verify whether their content has been used to train an AI, in order to claim remuneration.
His report therefore recommends asking manufacturers “a list of domain names, and even web page addresses” content used. THE “business secret”mentioned in the AI Act at the request of AI companies, could only be invoked regarding « techniques » used to process this content, such as filtering or « tokenisation »which consists of cutting a text into words or sequences. “The precise list of ingredients can be made public, but not the recipe”writes Mme Bensamoun
Concerned rights holders
What will become of this report? He must “nurture French positions at the European level”, Thomas Courbe, the director general of businesses at the Ministry of the Economy, explained in June. “The next step is to bring it to an interministerial debate and try to sell it on the European scene. There is also great expectation from our members on the place of culture at the AI summit in Paris”, explains Jean-Philippe Mochon, president of the CSPLA.
In reality, rights holders remain worried about seeing AI models use their content, without compensation, explains Pascal Rogard, general director of the Society of Dramatic Authors and Composers. “What position will Paris defend? The executive must change its mind”he believes, recalling Emmanuel Macron’s strong opposition to transparency obligations in the AI Act, in the name of protecting French AI start-ups like Mistral, Dust or Photoroom.
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