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I have read in other posts on this website that AI generated content cannot be copyrighted, because it was not created by a human, it is public domain, and not owned by a human.

If such content is not owned by any human, can companies really enforce rules and restrictions about what you can do with that content?

For example, suppose I make an image on Bing's AI for making images. They have Terms of Service and restrictions on what I can do with that image, but they don't own the image, so how can they control what I do with an image they don't own the rights to? Are those terms invalid? I suppose they can restrict the tool itself, but can they restrict what we do with the content it produces in any way? Assuming the usage does not violate any other laws, can they really add additional restrictions to the use of an image they don't own?

qa test
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2 Answers2

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These terms are assumed valid until a court or law finds they patently aren't.

It's a basic premise of : A contract is formed if there's a meeting of minds, an exchange of consideration (value) to both sides, and the contract is not illegal.

The value exchange in question here is basically

  • "You get access to the AI and may use the image under these terms" and
  • "AI Company gets that you are not free to use the image as you want but agree to these terms (or pay for better terms)".

As such, the basic assumption should be, that the clause is valid, as consideration was exchanged, a meeting of minds can be assumed and at the moment (most) AI content is not illegal.

Trish
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Ownership of the content isn't relevant here - you agreed to use the service under particular conditions. If you enter into an contract with Bing that you will use their service, and not do certain things with the result, and then do those things anyway, you have breached the contract.

Consider the example of a video game publisher who gives early copies to reviewers but puts an embargo on publishing information until the release date. If the reviewers post footage of them playing the game before the embargo passes, they'll have broken the contract, despite having complete ownership of the video they posted. A company can indeed enforce rules on things it doesn't own, if you contractually agreed to those rules.

Nuclear Hoagie
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