Experts discuss rights to content created using AI

With the growing use of big data and artificial intelligence, discussions have focused on new issues centering on intellectual property rights protection and application. Opinions are split on whether content produced by AI and robots, from news reports to poetry, deserve protection under the current copyright law.

Experts from across the country expressed their viewpoints on the issue at a recent IP and technological revolution seminar held in the city of Chongqing in Southwest China.

Wei Sen, a professor with the Law School at Central China Normal University, said content produced by AI and robots should not have legal protection.

"One main purpose of the copyright law is to encourage people to create more literary and artistic works. But AI and robots can create many such works in a few seconds and thus there is no need for encouragement and IP protection," Wei said.

He added that content created by AI and robots are the result of computer calculation rather than creation, and do not possess human feeling.

"For example, Xiaoice, an artificial intelligence developed by Microsoft, and literally translated as 'little ice', last year published a poem collection, in which many sentences do not make any sense to me," Wei said, comparing the poetry to typing at a keyboard with his eyes closed.

Chen Mingtao, a professor with the Law School at Beijing Jiaotong University, disagrees. He said that content produced by AI and robots feature originality and therefore can be considered creative works.

He added that copyright protection for such works would be necessary. "One of the fundamental goals of copyright law is to protect industrial investment and promote cultural prosperity and progress," Chen said.

"From industry and marketing perspectives, as long as the content products generate industry interest and investment gains, they should be under protection. It has nothing to do with the artistic quality," he added.

Commenting on the ownership of the copyright, Yuan Zhenfu, a professor with the School of Intellectual Property at Shanghai University, said the ownership could belong to the AI owners, but the right of authorship should not be occupied by humans.

Chen echoed Yuan's opinion and said that the AI developers and users should follow a principal of "who invests, who benefits" to ensure a sustainable development of the industry.

haonan@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 04/26/2018 page17)