AI-generated content, IP ownership and related issues

This is a line written by an AI-powered online, free tool.

 Who owns the creative rights to this? The IP?  It may not infringe on any words, or thoughts of another writer or bot, but it has created a tangible entity that has rights.

But again, who owns these rights?

I? Who input the keywords, questions and thoughts into the algorithm?

or

The algorithm & its owner company – ultimately it is the algorithm that strung the ideas into words and gave an output.

or

Or is it MikeLegal, the platform that published this, and employs me?

Is this the same or in any way comparable to a designer who works for a brand, but the brand outsources mass production to factories? One may argue here, that factories produce the exact input they are given, and they are not the ones giving inputs and creating the final product. They are creating the designer’s exact vision.

But, haven’t we seen instances where factories have taken creative liberties with the foundation of the product design and marketed it as their very own? In such instances, many famous brands have won IP infringement litigations. The foundation of such cases has always been that the factories were inspired or are too similar to the inputs they got from the product design.

Is that not the same or even similar to content generated by AI? as they only work after the initial input and direction are given?

I’m no IP lawyer or an expert in this, I’m just a writer. I may be naive in putting this out there – but what happens to writers, bloggers and content creators who are looking at using these products just to increase the number of pieces they can produce, and boost their productivity? Aren’t the initial thoughts, inputs and foundation/direction of the content not given by the person using these bots?

A lot to think about indeed.

Currently, everyone is fascinated by Copy.ai or ChatGTP. Companies, agencies everyone is thinking about how they can be leveraged. The danger in such a situation is, what happens when a piece of content generated with their help of them goes viral and gives monetized returns. Who is the rightful owner of these gains? Or even losses, if the content doesn’t work, offends someone or needs to be taken down due to x..y…z…reason… who ultimately ‘owns’ this content. Have any of us read the T&Cs on these products/bots/services..maybe they know what we don’t.

Here’s what you need to know when you use ChatGPT to generate content: