AI Art Wars: Japan Says AI Model Training Doesn’t Violate Copyright

Jun 06, 2023 | News On Japan

Jun 06, 2023 (decrypt.co) - In a move that could ripple across both art and AI communities worldwide, Japan has declared that using datasets for training AI models doesn't violate copyright law.

This decision means that model trainers can gather publicly available data without having to license or secure permission from the data owners.

"We asked questions about generative AI from two perspectives: copyright protection and utilization in educational settings," said Takashi Kii, a member of the House of Representatives for the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, during a meeting of Japan’s Financial Oversight Committee. “In Japan, works for information analysis can be used regardless of the method, whether for non-profit purposes, for profit, for acts other than reproduction, or for content obtained from illegal sites."

Kii acknowledged that "the fact that it can be used even when it is against the will of the copyright holder is problematic from the viewpoint of rights protection," suggesting a need for "new regulations to protect copyright holders." ...continue reading

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