A few days ago, I alerted Cedro, the governing body that works for authors' rights and the sustainability of written culture, that generative artificial intelligence could be using stolen or pirated works from some 41,000 Spanish literary authors. This information is based on a report published by the Danish Rights Alliance, according to which GAI models developed by companies such as Meta and OpenAI may have used a pirated website, Libgen, as a source of content for their training.
The problem seems new, but in reality, it already risks becoming entrenched. Artificial intelligence has burst into our lives with the speed of change that marks a new era: some compare it to the implementation of the Internet or to technical advances that we would in no way want to give up today. However, all progress should be accompanied by citizen protection through an appropriate legislative framework, and right now we find ourselves in a context in which those who enjoy this protection seem to be more tech companies than citizens and creators.
In Europe, the law is made, and with it, so is the trap. If in June of last year the European Parliament and the Council of Europe approved the European Union's AI regulation, this past year has served to highlight the lack of protection it provides for intellectual property owners: writers, translators, illustrators, composers, and so on. The law focuses more on issues such as data protection and copyright. That is why, last fall, the European Commission launched the participatory drafting of an AI Code of Ethics, which, while not necessarily binding, sought to remedy this shortcoming. But alas, this participatory process, open to interested copyright holders, but also to developers, has been swallowed up or almost completely occupied by technology companies, which have prevented virtually all working groups from making any progress in this regard. The text is insufficient and has already been rejected by creators' organizations across the continent, so its publication, scheduled for June, has been delayed.
Meanwhile, in Spain, the government seems keen to take steps toward a more protective transposition of the European regulation. But beyond the political turmoil the executive branch has been experiencing these past few weeks, the lack of agreement between the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Digital Transformation makes it hard to believe that the new law, if it is passed during this term, will provide enforceable remuneration and transparency. But what about hope? Time (or the unfathomable human inability to protect our most precious and simultaneously battered treasure, culture) will tell.
