Category: Technology

The Complex World of Style, Copyright, and Generative AI

by Stephen Wolfson Better Internet, Licenses & Tools, Open Creativity, Technology
Illustration of four superheroes, wearing masks and punk outfits and two holding guitars, standing in a washed out cityscape.
“Grunge Heroes” by Stephen Wolfson for Creative Commons was generated by the Midjourney AI platform with the text prompt “a grunge band from the 1990s made up of superheroes.” CC dedicates any rights it holds to the image to the public domain via CC0.

In my previous posts on generative AI, I discussed fair use and AI training data, copyright over AI outputs, and a recent U.S. Copyright Office decision on registration for a work produced by generative AI. In the next posts in our series, I will look at claims (exemplified in a recent case against Stable Diffusion…

CC Community Input: Better Sharing for Generative AI

by Nate Angell Better Internet, CC Global Network, Licenses & Tools, Open Creativity, Technology
Veins of hot glowing orange lava flowing through vein-like channels in dark black volcanic rock.
“Input” by jputman, here slightly cropped, is licensed via CC BY-SA 2.0.

Over the last year, innovation and use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) has proliferated, providing new ways for people to create content from art to zines, and everything in between. At CC, we’ve been watching these experiments in creativity while considering what it all means for what we call better sharing: sharing that is contextual,…

Zarya of the Dawn: US Copyright Office Affirms Limits on Copyright of AI Outputs

by Stephen Wolfson Better Internet, Copyright, Licenses & Tools, Open Creativity, Technology
Close up of the face of Zarya, from the comic Zarya of the Dawn, looking intent in a dark urban landscape with glowing lights.
“Zarya of the Dawn”: detail of an image generated by Midjourney AI from the full graphic novel by Kristina Kashtanova.

In a recent post, we explained why, absent significant and direct human creative input, generative AI outputs should not qualify for copyright protection. We noted that exactly what constitutes enough human input is not entirely clear; while a simple text prompt shouldn’t be enough, other areas will present more complex questions. Just this week, the…

This Is Not a Bicycle: Human Creativity and Generative AI

by Stephen Wolfson 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…

Fair Use: Training Generative AI

by Stephen Wolfson 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

by Nate Angell, Zack Krida 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.

“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

by Catherine Stihler 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…

Dear Users of CC Search, Welcome to Openverse

by Anna Tumadóttir Technology

Earlier this year, we shared an exciting announcement that CC Search would be joining WordPress. Several beloved former CC tech team alumni joined the team at WordPress to tackle this important initiative, shepherding it forward into an exciting new era. Starting today, all our wonderful, loyal users of CC Search will be redirected to Openverse…

CC Search to Join WordPress

by Catherine Stihler Technology

Creative Commons is thrilled to confirm that CC Search, the search engine we built for openly licensed content, has found a new home and will soon be joining WordPress. With its talented team and active community of open source contributors from all around the globe, WordPress is the perfect partner to help keep the project…