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Carolyn Clock Allen's avatar

I've used ChatGPT almost from the beginning, but not in an ongoing collaborative way as you are doing, Susan. One thing I need to know is whether there is any concern over stuff YOU write being available to OTHER people to COPY?? Does stuff you write get saved to the chatbot "memory"??

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Susan Wittig Albert's avatar

Smart question, Carolyn. OpenAI says they don't scrape subscribers' text, but I wouldn't put it past them. OTOH, if they do that, they're not copying words or sentences, but tokens. And since my 150+ books are in one of the big datasets that has been used by all 3 big AIs, my work is already in their databanks. I decided not to join the Authors' Guild lawsuits, but I am interested in how it turns out. Meta won a big one yesterday: https://apnews.com/article/meta-ai-copyright-lawsuit-sarah-silverman-e77968015b94fbbf38234e3178ede578 Meta may still get hit with piracy, but not copyright infringement.

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Carolyn Clock Allen's avatar

That worries ME. Can you COPYRIGHT the text YOU supply to the chatbot?? I can see this as a looming issue. Thanks for the information - obviously this is already being addressed by other authors. Although the outcome is uncertain. Sigh...

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Susan Wittig Albert's avatar

Carolyn, another smart question. The answer is lengthy and won't fit into this box, so I'm pasting it into two boxes--and leaving it here, in case others want to read it.

ChatGPT Grants IP Rights to Users

ChatGPT is developed and owned by OpenAI. Their Terms of Service maintain full ownership over the core ChatGPT system itself.

However, when it comes to the text, images, or other content ChatGPT generates, the terms take a different approach from some other AI providers.

Section 3(a) of the OpenAI Terms of Service states:

“As between the parties and to the extent permitted by applicable law, you own all Input. Subject to your compliance with these Terms, OpenAI hereby assigns to you all its right, title and interest in and to Output. This means you can use Content for any purpose, including commercial purposes such as sale or publication, if you comply with these Terms.“

[More in next box.]

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Susan Wittig Albert's avatar

More:

So ChatGPT outright assigns intellectual property rights in outputs to the user, rather than just granting a limited license. This enables more flexibility for users to commercially exploit ChatGPT-generated content.

Some examples of how users could leverage these IP rights include:

 Publishing books or blog posts composed entirely of ChatGPT output.

 Selling ChatGPT-generated art, music, or other creative works.

 Developing consumer applications powered by ChatGPT output.

 Licensing ChatGPT-written business plans, code, or articles to clients.

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Claude's terms are different in the rights the user has; I haven't compared any other chatbots.

This doesn't answer all questions, of course--but it's a pretty good statement, seems to me.

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Carolyn Clock Allen's avatar

"Subject to your compliance with these Terms, OpenAI hereby assigns to you all its right, title and interest in and to Output. This means you can use Content for any purpose, including commercial purposes such as sale or publication, if you comply with these Terms.“

What does OpenAI consider "output"?? (What is "interest" - I'm not sure?) and does OpenAI LIMIT all of its right, title and interest JUST TO YOU??

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Susan Wittig Albert's avatar

Output = content of your work plus the chatbot's work. Yes, to "you." Nobody else can come in and snatch it, if that's what you're worried about. If you have a personal purpose for your questions (other than just curiosity), better ask a lawyer. I'm not one.

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Susan J Tweit's avatar

This is fascinating, Susan, and thanks for sharing it. I'm deeply curious about the energy costs of AI, as well as the different personalities of the different systems. I think I'm more inclined to use Claude from Anthropic because I'm not comfortable with Open AI as a company. I appreciate your embrace of new technology and willingness to dive deep!

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Susan Wittig Albert's avatar

It's good if we know why we're choosing one model over another, and I value yours because I know you to think deeply about these things.

I confess: I don't buy gas from a gas company based on its ecological performance. I buy pragmatically: what, when, and where I find it. AI is like that, for me. I'm using Google for quick lookups, Chat for extended project work, and Canva for graphics. If I find something else that fits, I'll use it. None of these companies have clean hands on every score. This is the world we live in.

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Susan J Tweit's avatar

I vote with my dollars as much as I can. We all choose our paths, and we all do our best to shine our lights brightly in these times. I value your work and your generosity with sharing your learnings very much!

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Len Leatherwood's avatar

Love this, Susan. I am deeply interested in this topic.

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Susan Wittig Albert's avatar

So much to learn here, Len--so many ways to explore this new area!

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Alex Keerie's avatar

Love the title and the picture. Great thoughts, thanks for sharing

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Susan Wittig Albert's avatar

Thanks for stopping by, Alex.

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