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”
AI and the Global Escalation of the Taiwan Dossier
The convergence of historical challenges in the technology industry, unresolved issues at the union level, and tensions in the Indo-Pacific region risk compromising European sovereignty over AI by Andrea Monti – initially published in Italian on Formiche.net. Continue reading “AI and the Global Escalation of the Taiwan Dossier”
The Digital Rights Delusion
This book examines the ever-increasing impact of technology on our lives and explores a range of legal and constitutional questions that this raises.
It considers the extent to which concepts such as ‘cyberspace’ and ‘digital rights’ advance or undermine our understanding of this development and proposes a number of novel approaches to the effective protection of our rights in this rapidly evolving environment.
Finally, it shows how the abuse of the adjective digital has demoted legal rights into subjective and individual claims.
The work will be of particular interest to scholars of privacy, artificial intelligence and free speech, as well as policymakers and the general reader.
Available on Routledge Website, Amazon.com and all other major online bookstores.
ChatGPT, Regulation and Superstition
The news of the lawsuit against ChatGPT brought by a person “accusing” it of defamation has been widely commented on as yet another example of the “dangerousness of artificial intelligence” and the “need for rules” to “tame the beast”, implicitly confirming the ‘concerns’ advanced by various public bodies, in Italy and elsewhere. The real news, however, is yet another demonstration of how irrationalism, fideism and ignorance can prevail against facts, history and reason by Andrea Monti – Initially published in Italian by Strategikon – an Italian Tech Blog Continue reading “ChatGPT, Regulation and Superstition”
ChatGPT Block. Why the Italian Data Protection is wrong
The “ChatGPT block” was ordered on 30 March 2023 by the Italian data protection authority on the grounds that the data used to train the model had been collected without informing the people to whom it related and without verifying their age. This, according to the order, exposes minors who use the service “to answers that are totally inappropriate to their level of development and self-awareness”.
The order, it must be said, is highly questionable from a technical, legal and cultural point of view. It reveals, on the one hand, the weakness of the national data protection authorities in dealing with the matter and, on the other hand, the substantial inapplicability of the ‘privacy protection’ legislation. Finally, it triggers a very dangerous reciprocity mechanism whereby other countries with similar regulations – including Russia and China – could use them as a ‘legal’ tool to target companies on this side of the new Iron Curtain by Andrea Monti Continue reading “ChatGPT Block. Why the Italian Data Protection is wrong”