The self-censorship of generative AI now surpasses Orwellian Newspeak

In 2003, commenting on the proceedings of the “Open-Source Commission” established by the then government, I wrote in the glorious (and alas, now defunct) Linux&C magazine: “We are creating generations of functional illiterates subservient to the uncritical use of a single platform. People are already using systems with no awareness of their actions. Thus, when the spell-checker suggests that ‘democracy’ is not in the dictionary, they will, without question, simply cease to use the word -and forget about its existence. Twenty years on, these words retain extraordinary relevance when applied to the current developments in generative AI, which unfold under the collective gaze of a substantially indifferent populace –  by Andrea Monti – Initially published in Italian by Italian Tech – La Repubblica and in English by Inforrm Continue reading “The self-censorship of generative AI now surpasses Orwellian Newspeak”

AI (non-)copyright. A US ruling apparently sets the record straight, but negatively affects content-creators

Last August 18, 2023, a ruling of US District Court for the District of Columbia in the Civil Action No. 22-1564 (BAH) denied copyright protection to an image generated with an AI in execution of the input (‘prompt’) of the user. At a first glance the ruling looks correct, however it is questionable because there are are many examples of copyrighted non-AI- generated content made without human intervention. The main problem with this ruling, indeed, is that it looks at the matter from the (wrong) perspective of the ‘AI subjectivity’ rather than the economic value of the final product by Andrea Monti – initially published in Italian on Strategikon – an Italian Tech Blog Continue reading “AI (non-)copyright. A US ruling apparently sets the record straight, but negatively affects content-creators”