Twitter and Block co-founder Jack Dorsey has called for a radical change in the approach to intellectual property, proposing to completely abolish the relevant laws. His opinion was supported by Elon Musk, the current head of the social network X. This was reported by Mashable, writes UNN.
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On Friday, the co-founder of X (then Twitter) and Block (then Square) posted on X: "Delete all intellectual property laws." Elon Musk, the current leader of X, commented: "I agree."
Earlier, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman gave an interview to Chris Anderson of TED at the conference of the same name. Anderson showed Altman an AI-generated Charlie Brown comic, saying, "It feels like intellectual property theft." Anderson asked if OpenAI has a licensing agreement with the Peanuts heirs.
Altman did not answer the question directly, but instead confirmed that OpenAI wants to "create tools that will lift [the creative spirit of humanity]", and then added, "We probably need to come up with some new model of creative product economics."
According to the media, the words of Dorsey, Musk, and Altman underscore the general opinion among entrepreneurs in the field of technology that copyright laws should evolve to take into account the potential of generative AI. OpenAI and Google have already openly lobbied the US government to allow AI models to be trained on protected works such as movies, articles, and music. They want such use to fall under the legal doctrine of fair use, and OpenAI calls it a matter of "national security."
The creative community is actively opposing this practice. More than 50,000 artists, including Tom York, James Patterson, and Julianne Moore, have signed an open letter calling for a ban on the unlicensed use of their work to train AI. Another protest letter was signed by Hollywood celebrities, including Ron Howard, Paul McCartney, and Cynthia Erivo, and sent to the White House.
"Intellectual property law is rooted in the US Constitution as a tool to encourage creativity, not suppress it. It ensures that those who contribute to cultural and scientific progress are recognized, protected, and rewarded," said Atreya Mathur, director of legal research at the Center for Art Law, in an email to Mashable. "Repealing such laws would ignore that very purpose and devalue the work and rights of creators, including those whose work fuels these technologies."
As for X, Ed Newton-Rex, CEO of Fairly Trained, which advocates for ethical training data acquisition, said: "Tech executives are declaring total war on content creators who don't want their life's work looted for profit."
Other X users noted that Dorsey, who became a billionaire by founding his companies, did so with the protection of intellectual property rights.