David Cronshaw

On October 4, 2023 the Federal Trade Commission hosted a virtual roundtable to discuss the impact of generative artificial intelligence on creative fields.

The Federal Trade Commission is seeking to better understand how these tools may impact open and fair competition or enable unlawful business practices across markets, including in creative industries. 

https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/events/2023/10/creative-economy-generative-ai

Discussion Video:

This event brought together a diverse group of professionals from various creative fields to discuss the transformative impact of AI tools on their work. Here’s a comprehensive summary of the discussion:

1. Introduction by Madeline Barner, Senior Technology Advisor, FTC:

• The focus was on Generative AI, which can produce content on command.
• Participants included screenwriters, actors, programmers, editors, musicians, models, and more.
• The event was recorded and will be publicly available.

2. Chair Khan’s Opening Remarks:

• The FTC’s goal is to understand how generative AI impacts creators’ work and livelihood.
• The FTC was established 109 years ago during the industrial revolution to ensure fair competition.
• Generative AI has the potential to reshape our lives, work, and communication methods.
• Concerns include AI’s potential to amplify fraud, concentrate power, and promote excessive surveillance of personal data.

3. Commissioner Sloter’s Insights:

• Art is intrinsically human, and technology, including AI, requires human intelligence.
• Generative AI prompts questions about adapting copyright laws to protect creators.
• Collective bargaining, rights to publicity, and FTC’s regulations can safeguard creators from potential AI misuse.

4. Madeline Barner’s Perspective:

• Generative AI is revolutionizing creative industries.
• AI depends on diverse data sets of human content, often gathered without creators’ consent.
• The FTC aims to grasp the full impact of generative AI on creative communities.

5. Duncan Crabtree Ireland, National Executive Director, SAC-APHRA:

• Generative AI can be both a threat and a benefit.
• AI should enhance human creativity, not replace it.
• Companies using AI must obtain informed consent from individuals whose intellectual property is utilized and compensate them appropriately.

6. Jon August, Screenwriter, Writers Guild of America West:

• AI was a central issue in the recent Writers Guild of America strike.
• Copyright is vital, but it’s not the sole method to protect artists.
• The new agreement with the Guild specifies that AI is not a writer, and its content is not on par with human writing.

Creator Economy and Generative AI

The Creator Economy is a term that describes the phenomenon of individuals creating and monetizing their own content online, such as videos, podcasts, blogs, newsletters, courses, and more. The Creator Economy is enabled by platforms that allow creators to reach and engage with their audiences, such as YouTube, TikTok, Substack, Patreon, and others.

However, creating content is not easy. It requires a lot of time, effort, skill, and creativity. That’s where AI comes in. AI is a powerful tool that can help creators in various aspects of their content creation process, such as generating ideas, writing scripts, editing videos, composing music, and more.

AI enhances the content creation process

One of the main benefits of AI for the Creator Economy is that it can enhance the content creation process by automating or augmenting some of the tasks involved. For example:

• AI can help creators generate ideas for their content by providing suggestions, prompts, or templates based on their keywords, topics, or preferences. For instance, Copy.ai is a platform that uses AI to help creators write catchy headlines, slogans, captions, and more.
• AI can help creators write scripts for their content by providing natural language generation (NLG) tools that can produce coherent and engaging texts based on their inputs. For instance, Jarvis is a platform that uses AI to help creators write blog posts, sales copy, emails, and more.
• AI can help creators edit videos for their content by providing video editing tools that can automatically trim, crop, splice, or add effects to their videos based on their preferences. For instance, [Clipchamp] is a platform that uses AI to help creators edit videos online with ease.
• AI can help creators compose music for their content by providing music generation tools that can create original and customized music based on their inputs. For instance, [Amper Music] is a platform that uses AI to help creators compose music for their videos, podcasts, games, and more.

By using AI tools to enhance their content creation process, creators can save time and effort, improve the quality and diversity of their content, and focus on their core strengths and passions.

AI enables new forms of content creation

Another benefit of AI for the Creator Economy is that it can enable new forms of content creation that were not possible or accessible before. For example:

• AI can enable generative art creation by using generative adversarial networks (GANs) or other techniques to create realistic or abstract images based on the creator’s inputs or preferences. For instance,
• AI can enable generative art creation by using generative adversarial networks (GANs) or other techniques to create realistic or abstract images based on the creator’s inputs or preferences. For instance, [Artbreeder] is a platform that uses AI to help creators create and explore images of various styles and genres, such as portraits, landscapes, animals, and more.
• AI can enable interactive storytelling creation by using natural language understanding (NLU) and natural language generation (NLG) tools to create dynamic and immersive stories that adapt to the creator’s or the reader’s choices and actions. For instance, [AI Dungeon] is a platform that uses AI to help creators create and play text-based adventure games with infinite possibilities.
• AI can enable synthetic media creation by using deepfake or other techniques to create realistic or altered images, videos, or audio of people or objects that do not exist or have been manipulated. For instance, [Reface] is a platform that uses AI to help creators swap faces with celebrities or other people in videos or gifs.

By using AI tools to enable new forms of content creation, creators can create novel and engaging content that can attract and retain their audiences, as well as express their creativity and identity in new ways.

AI empowers collaboration among creators and communities

A third benefit of AI for the Creator Economy is that it can empower collaboration among creators and communities by facilitating communication, feedback, co-creation, and participation. For example:

• AI can help creators communicate with their audiences and communities by providing natural language processing (NLP) tools that can translate, transcribe, or summarize their content in different languages or formats. For instance, Otter.ai is a platform that uses AI to help creators transcribe and caption their audio or video content in real time.
• AI can help creators get feedback from their audiences and communities by providing sentiment analysis or other tools that can measure and analyze the reactions, emotions, or opinions of their content consumers. For instance, [StreamElements] is a platform that uses AI to help creators get live feedback from their viewers on Twitch or YouTube.
• AI can help creators co-create with other creators or their audiences and communities by providing collaborative tools that can allow multiple users to create or edit content together online. For instance, [Descript] is a platform that uses AI to help creators collaborate on editing audio or video content with others.
• AI can help creators involve their audiences and communities in their content creation process by providing interactive tools that can allow them to participate in the content creation or consumption. For instance, [Crowdsource] is a platform that uses AI to help creators crowdsource ideas, content, or feedback from their fans or followers.

By using AI tools to empower collaboration among creators and communities, creators can build stronger relationships with their audiences and communities, as well as leverage the collective intelligence and creativity of the crowd.

AI poses challenges and risks for the Creator Economy

However, AI is not a panacea for the Creator Economy. It also poses some challenges and risks that need to be addressed by the creators, the platforms, and the society. For example:

• AI can raise ethical issues for the Creator Economy by creating content that may be harmful, offensive, misleading, or biased. For instance, AI-generated content may violate intellectual property rights, privacy rights, or human rights of the original content owners or subjects. AI-generated content may also spread misinformation, disinformation, or propaganda that may influence public opinion or behavior.
• AI can raise legal issues for the Creator Economy by creating content that may be subject to different laws and regulations in different jurisdictions. For instance, AI-generated content may be subject to different standards of liability, accountability, or transparency depending on who is considered as the author, owner, or distributor of the content. AI-generated content may also be subject to different rules of taxation, licensing, or monetization depending on how it is classified or valued.
• AI can raise social issues for the Creator Economy by creating content that may affect the quality, diversity, and impact of the content ecosystem. For instance, AI-generated content may create competition or inequality among creators, as some creators may have more access or advantage to use AI tools than others. AI-generated content may also affect the creativity or identity of the creators, as they may rely more on AI tools than on their own skills or talents. AI-generated content may also affect the trust or engagement of the audiences and communities, as they may question the authenticity or value of the content created by or with AI.

Therefore, the article argues that creators need to be aware of the opportunities and challenges of using AI in their content creation process. Creators also need to be responsible and ethical in their use of AI, as well as in their interaction with their audiences and communities. Creators also need to be adaptable and innovative in their content creation strategies, as well as in their business models.

Conclusion

AI is transforming the Creator Economy in many ways, by enhancing the content creation process, by enabling new forms of content creation, by empowering collaboration among creators and communities, and by posing challenges and risks for the Creator Economy. AI is a powerful tool that can help creators create and monetize their own content online, but it also requires careful and critical use. Creators need to embrace AI as a partner, not a replacement, in their content creation journey.

#ai #generativeai #creator