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This Is Not a Bicycle: Human Creativity and Generative AI

Better Internet, Licenses & Tools, Open Creativity, Technology
An image generated by the DALL-E 2 AI platform showing a slightly distorted yellowish-white bicycle with a basket, rear rack, and orange chain guard leaning against a brick building with a white stucco base near a gray standpipe.
Bicycle”, here slightly cropped, by Stephen Wolfson for Creative Commons was generated by the DALL-E 2 AI platform with the text prompt “bicycle.” CC dedicates any rights it holds to the image to the public domain via CC0.

“Generative AI” has been the subject of much online conversation over the past few months. “Generative AI” refers to artificial intelligence (AI) models that can create different kinds of content by following user input and instructions. These models are trained on massive datasets of content — images, audio, text — that is harvested from the…

Panel Recap: 3D Scanning for Cultural Heritage Preservation, Access and Revitalization

Open Culture
Glowing greenish 2-dimensional view of statues of human figures in a 3-dimensional scan of the interior of in the Hypogeum of the Volumnis in Perugia, Italy.
3D view of the Tablinum in the Hypogeum of the Volumnis, Perugia, Italy by CyArk, via Wikimedia Commons is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

On 7 February 2023, Creative Commons hosted a panel discussion on 3D scanning, preservation, access and revitalization of cultural heritage. Missed it? Not to worry, it was recorded.    Here are some of our top takeaways from discussion:    To increase access to cultural content, advocacy efforts that appeal to museums’ higher values of making cultural…

Fair Use: Training Generative AI

Better Internet, Copyright, Licenses & Tools, Open Creativity, Technology
Generated by AI: An oil painting in the style of Pieter Jansz Saenredam of a robot learning to follow a recipe in a Dutch kitchen with a large collection of tiny artworks arranged haphazardly on shelves.
“Robot Training” by Creative Commons was generated by the DALL-E 2 AI platform with the text prompt “an oil painting in the style of Pieter Jansz Saenredam of a robot learning to follow a recipe in a Dutch kitchen with a large collection of tiny artworks arranged haphazardly on shelves.” CC dedicates any rights it holds to the image to the public domain via CC0.

While generative AI as a tool for artistic expression isn’t truly new — AI has been used to create art since at least the 1970s and the art auction house Christie’s sold its first piece of AI artwork in 2018 — the past year launched this exciting and disruptive technology into public awareness.  With incredible…

Revisiting the Openverse: Finding Open Images and Audio

Better Internet, Licenses & Tools, Technology
Blurry bluish-black image of stars or lights at night seen through a transparent screen marked with smeared human handprints.

“art is the universe creating itself as it goes” by submerged~, here slightly cropped, is marked with Public Domain Mark 1.0. Looking for that perfect picture to illustrate your post? That catchy tune to jazz up your video? Look no further than Openverse, the huge library of free and open stock photos, images, and audio…

Better Sharing for Generative AI

Better Internet, Licenses & Tools, Open Creativity, Technology
A bluish surrealist painting generated by the DALL-E 2 AI platform showing a small grayish human figure holding a gift out to a larger robot that has its arms extended and a head like a cello.
Better Sharing With AI” by Creative Commons was generated by the DALL-E 2 AI platform with the text prompt “A surrealist painting in the style of Salvador Dali of a robot giving a gift to a person playing a cello.” CC dedicates any rights it holds to the image to the public domain via CC0.

Over the last year, innovation and use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) has exploded, providing new ways for people to create content of all sorts. For example, it’s been used to help create award winning art, develop educational materials, expedite software development, and craft business materials. Recently, three artists filed a class action lawsuit in…

Training: Open Licenses for Artists, Musicians and Creators

Licenses & Tools
The tip of a ballpoint pen with a smear of bluish ink and a water drop reflecting/containing a pink flower blossom perched on the tip, highly magnified on a glowing pink background.
Macrofotografia Drops & Flowers by Mario Jr. Nicorelli, slightly cropped, is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.

Curious about Creative Commons licenses? Join Creative Commons staff for an overview of the six CC licenses and two public domain tools. We will describe the CC license and tool elements, their legal, machine-readable, and human-readable layers, as well as show practical use cases for each of the licenses and tools. Participants will engage in…