Description:

Speaker

Gerardo Con Diaz, University of California-Davis

Title

"Monkeys, Artificial Intelligence, and Humanness in U.S. Copyright Law"

Abstract

This talk uses copyright law to investigate the emergence of generative artificial intelligence systems as distinct technical and legal entities. Imagine that you use an image-generating system such as DALL-E to create a picture. You enter a prompt, and the system automatically draws on art created by legions of artists to output a new illustration. You might be satisfied with the image, or you could enter additional prompts to tweak it to your liking. Who gets to own this new image, and why was the system able to draw on these artists’ work in the first place? What does it mean to create an image, and for an image to be new, if the tools involved blend the works of millions of other artists? Based on my upcoming book, on the social studies of digital copyright, this talk shows how the stability of generative AI in US copyright law hinges on the interplay of two relatively recent legal fields: one on non-human animals’ rights to hold legal standing, and another that sustains search engines’ ability to display creative works without permission. Tracing these connections reveals how AI is becoming a distinct legal entity thanks to such disparate issues as a monkey’s inability to own a copyright, Google’s longstanding legal strategies, and artists’ and scientists’ negotiations over the limits of ownership in digital art. 

Biography

Gerardo Con Diaz researches how law and policy have shaped the digital world. His first book, Software Rights, examines software patenting in the United States. He researches how law and policy have shaped the digital world. His first book, Software Rights, examines software patenting in the United States. His next book, on Internet copyright, is under contract with Yale University Press. He also have a few side projects on the histories of medical algorithms, the California oil industry, and the U.S. music industry. His research is funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the Smithsonian Institution, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. He is an Associate Professor of Science and Technology Studies at the University of California, Davis, and the Editor in Chief of the IEEE Annals of the History of Computing. With Jeff Yost, he edits the Johns Hopkins Series Studies in Computing and Culture. He received a Ph.D. from Yale University and additional degrees from the University of Cambridge (Trinity College) and Harvard University.