Artificial Intelligence and the Threat to Originality: Can Copyright Law Protect the Creative Process?

Abstract

As the conference theme outlines, media is rapidly transforming in the Twenty-First Century through digitalization and the internet’s global interconnectivity. However, the relatively recent emergence of Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) adds a significant and worrying new perspective to the development of new ideas and their authorship. Much has been written about the rapid encroachment of A.I. into many interdisciplinary fields, particularly where human creativity and communication is an integral component of new ideas. Where the infiltration of A.I. has challenged and replaced original, human-generated work in art, sculpture and music, prevailing copyright laws have provided protection for the authors of the latter. However, legal protection is less clear in other disciplines. The potential impact of A.I. upon architecture has caused relatively little debate, perhaps because of the many inroads already well established through Computer-Aided Design and Building Information Modeling. While these technological innovations are regarded as benign, concern may be looming in possible threats to one of the key foundations of the profession – the originality of design ideas and their legitimate ownership. This paper examines the challenges A.I. poses to the architect’s rights of ownership of creative work and the effectiveness of intellectual property laws to protect them. It questions the future relationship between A.I. and originality and reflects on how it may affect the profession in the future. The summary findings of the research are equally applicable to other interdisciplinary fields of creative endeavor where the expansion of A.I. may compromise originality without legal protection and control.

Presenters

Robert Greenstreet
Professor and Dean Emeritus, Architecture, University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States

Details

Presentation Type

Paper Presentation in a Themed Session

Theme

Media Business

KEYWORDS

Originality Copyright Intellectual Property