COPYRIGHT AND TRADEMARK
- Artificial Intelligence as Authors
Karen B. Tripp
In Recognizing Artificial Intelligence (AI) as Authors and Inventors Under U.S. Intellectual Property Law, legal commentator Russ Pearlman argues for recognition of AI authorship and inventorship. In making this argument, the article presents a framework to analyze when such rights should be recognized based on (1) the subject matter (i.e., independence of the work) and (2) the causation (i.e., independence of the AI).
The article begins by reviewing the current state of AI. The article defines AI as a branch of computer science that attempts to replicate human intelligence in computer systems, having central goals of reasoning, knowledge, planning, learning, natural language processing (understanding and speaking languages), perception, and the ability to move and manipulate objects. During World War II, an early form of AI cracked encrypted messages the Nazi command sent to its naval fleet, and electronic digital computing devices spurred the beginning of the “information age.” In the 1990’s, IBM’s Deep Blue computer defeated the world champion at chess, and in 2016 Google’s AlphaGo program defeated the world champion at the Chinese game Go. In 2011, IBM’s Watson defeated two of the greatest champions of Jeopardy! at that game, which requires understanding written language, deducing precise answers to clever and humorous clues, retrieving answers quickly, and answering out loud in the form of a question. Al is now being used to create sophisticated works of art and has been used to develop ideas and potentially patentable inventions throughout the last twenty years.
MULTIMEDIA AND THE INTERNET
Fake News and Facebook
In Fighting Falsity: Fake News, Facebook, and the First Amendment, professor Joel Timmer posits that fake news may sway people’s vote and thus the article focuses on what legal steps, if any, can be taken to prohibit or restrict the flow of fake news in political campaigns, The article begins with a commentary on fake election stories during the 2016 presidential election campaign and advises that fake political “news” is not new, just as fake news is not new, The difference now, however is simply that with the internet, fake news can spread substantially further and faster than before the internet and social media.
The article states that Facebook has played the largest role in the dissemination of false news, and hence the article focused on Facebook. Facebook, the articles states, has 1.79 billion users and in the United States is used by more than 200 million people out of a total of 320 million. Thus, Facebook has great potential to reach a large number of people. With respect to fake news, Facebook has stated that the magnitude of fake news across Facebook is one fraction of a percent of the content across the network.
The article discusses First Amendment protection for fake political news and notes that the U.S. Supreme Court often makes a point to say that it affords political speech the highest level of Constitutional protection. The protection even extends to false speech and speech with is untrue. The Court has viewed that erroneous statements are inevitable in free debate and that the best way to fight falsity is with the truth.
The article states that a law that targeted false political speech would be subject to strict scrutiny, which requires the government to prove that the restriction furthers a compelling interest and is narrowly tailored to achieve that interest. This sets a very high hurdle for Xvii