Some affected companies and industries continue to wake-up to the problematic profit model powering generative AI systems like ChatGPT.

Michael Miller, CEO of the Australian News Corp, wrote in a 2 April editorial that tech companies that train their AI off of the content of human creatives should have to compensate that work:

“Creators deserve to be rewarded for their original work being used by AI engines which are raiding the style and tone of not only journalists but (to name a few) musicians, authors, poets, historians, painters, filmmakers and photographers.”

Miller noted that under a 2021 Australian law titled the News Media Bargaining Code, tech platforms operating in that country must pay news publishers for content linked or made available through their sites and services.

He argued that AI companies with AI continent creation products that trained off of huge data sets of content created by humans, should come under a similar standard.

OpenAI and other companies have managed to capture public attention and create products, by developing sophisticated deep-learning neural net artificial intelligence systems that can self-learn from being exposed to large data sets.

AI has been trained that can create sophisticated images in different styles from language prompts, or return detailed written responses to queries and commands.

But The Trends Journal pointed out serious problems and dangers presented by generative AI technology, well before MSM and most sectors that would be affected were aware of how fast AI was becoming more capable.

See, for example:

● “AI IS LEARNING YOUR JOB” (24 May 2022)

● “YOUR AI LOVER DOESN’T CARE ABOUT YOU (AND THAT’S WHY IT’S SO SEDUCTIVE)” (10 May 2022)

● “AUTOMATING OUT OF WORLD CRISIS?” (12 Jul 2022)

We have predicted that unless democratic processes and average citizens demand and obtain fair and very wide distribution of the benefits of AI, increasing numbers of people will be left behind, while a relative few hoard profits and concentrate wealth even further than is currently the case. (See “TOP TREND 2023: AI WE OWN YOU” 3 Jan 2023 and “CREATIVE CONTENT INFRINGEMENT OF DEEP LEARNING AI HAS MONUMENTAL IMPLICATIONS” 7 Feb 2023.)

We have also forecast that crypto technology including DAOs, NFTS and tokenized distribution might present ways to widely distribute and govern the benefits and profits from the AI revolution. (See “CAN CRYPTO TECHNOLOGY DEMOCRATIZE THE AI AND AUTOMATION REVOLUTION?” 21 Feb 2023.)

Most workers aren’t represented by unions or large companies that can protect IP and jobs. And most companies will be conflicted about deploying AI and robotics in order to compete, even if they endeavor to protect IP created by their human workforce.

This is why representative governments must be galvanized to understand and address the huge challenges posed by AI and other technologies that stand to threaten humanity as much as potentially help it.

For related reading, see this issue’s TRENDS IN TECHNOCRACY section.