The Generative AI Copyright Disclosure Act Demands Transparency in AI to Protect Creators’ Intellectual Property Rights

April 9, 2024

On April 9, 2024, Representative Adam Schiff brought The Generative AI Copyright Disclosure Act to the House floor – a bill that would require developers of generative AI technologies to identify the material they have used to train their systems.

 

This legislation marks an important step forward in making sure the policy framework put in place for AI promotes and protects the rights of creators. This transparency will ensure that creators can see when developers use their work to train generative AI tools and will give them the necessary tools to demand appropriate credit and compensation. The bill, which aligns with ASCAP's six principles on AI, represents an important effort to balance technological innovation with fairness and the economic and legal rights of creators.

 

Commenting on The Generative AI Copyright Disclosure Act introduction, ASCAP CEO Elizabeth Matthews said:

 

“Without transparency around the use of copyrighted works in training artificial intelligence, creators will never be fairly compensated and AI tech companies will continue stealing from songwriters. This bill is an important step toward ensuring that the law puts humans first, and we thank Congressman Schiff for his leadership.”

 

If signed into law, this bill would:

 

  • Require a notice be submitted to the Register of Copyrights prior to the public release of a new generative AI system with a sufficiently detailed summary of all copyrighted works used in building or altering the training dataset for that system;
  • Require the Copyright Office to establish a publicly available online database of notices filed;
  • Require the Copyright Office to issue regulations to implement these requirements and assess civil penalties for failure to comply; and
  • Apply retroactively to generative AI systems already available to consumers.
View the release from the office of Rep. Adam Schiff.

 

As part of our mission to ensure that American music creators can thrive alongside the businesses that use their work, ASCAP is committed to protecting the value of music without limiting the innovative opportunities AI presents to songwriters, composers and music publishers.

 

With the evolution of sophisticated AI tools with the potential to enhance the scope of musical creativity, ASCAP is actively engaged in discussions on Capitol Hill and participating in policy roundtables about AI to ensure the voices of music creators are heard by policymakers forming new laws and regulations.

 

You can learn more about ASCAP’s advocacy efforts surrounding AI at ascap.com/AI, which includes our comments to the U.S Copyright Office on generative AI.