Responsible use of artificial intelligence and the protection of personal data transcend political divisions. These issues matter to everyone — creators, workers and citizens alike. We need frameworks that honour and reward human contributions, ensuring that the future of technology is not only efficient but also ethical and inclusive.
I always enjoy your comments, and would love to see you encourage more Canadians like me to be a part of a fair global creator community. They cannot take my work if I don’t share it. Underground Art used to be a thing. Perhaps it will be again.
Here is a better example. I like Joe’s work. He gets paid by the people who buy his work. I am subscribed to his Substack and I like the presentation we are commenting after. His paid subscribers are paying him a fee to see his stuff but he is also giving it away. If he does a movie, someone is paying him to act or direct, or maybe he is doing it independently of funding. BUT he makes the choice of what the value of his work is and where it is distributed.
I think it is the responsibility of every artist to make their own arrangements to get paid in a fair and equitable way. Obviously the way we are paid for previously created works is at issue for many. Going forward, charge a fair price for human creation. How does $10,000 sound as a starting price for my unfinished painting, that I may send you a picture of before you pay?
P.S. No government is ever going to protect you from your own decisions.
Do you want to buy my art so you can say it is yours? If you do then you will need to pay a fee that precludes you from wanting to give it away with a photograph. and at that point what you have paid for was the fair use to do what you want with it.
My painting is incomplete. What will you pay for it now? What will you pay for it when it is finished? Will I accept your offer? Probably not. Art is not really about money. Art is about Art.
JGL, I hope you don't mind, I'm writing an article in response to yours. Bottom line? You're 10,000% correct. I'd add a few other things, but what I'd like to propose is solutions. First, a universal basic income (UBI) funded by the American land dividend plan by California governor candidate Zoltan Istvan. $1,000 a month for every person. pays for itself. Second, a universal basic needs guarantee (UBNG) like Bernie indirectly suggested, would actually save us nearly a trillion a year, give or take a quarter trillion; Medicare for All gives you the majority of that savings immediately. Third, you & your likeness are automatic IP just like a proposed bill in Denmark; I don't recall if it passed. Fourth, invest in exponential tech & infrastructure -- cold fusion, spin-photonic computers, quantum computing, MemComputing (available today) to reduce the energy expense of data centers & Big AI, solar panels everywhere, a national hyperloop (Elon Musk is a POS IMO -- but on the Hyperloop, I think he's right; we haven't figure it out yet, but I think we still can), hydrogen planes -- the end of fossil fuels, and vertical farming. Fifth, time to enforce anti-trust & anti-monopoly laws. These laws "are still on the books" and should be enforced. Sixth -- tax the rich. Tax them what we use to in the 1960s or 1970s, just before Ronald Reagan took over and destroyed this country.
"I didn’t vote for President Trump, but I think most of the people who did vote for him genuinely believed he would stand up against a powerful establishment and fight for working Americans." I can't decide if this is idealistic or downright gullible. I live in an area where slightly more than half of the locals voted for Trump and they absolutely didn't care who Trump stood "up against" as long as their educated, better paid, better informed urban neighbors suffered the same disappointments as themselves. Trump voters are pissed off that having loafed through school and their government provided advantages they are now poor, in debt, nearly homeless and unemployed and the modern world is beyond their grasp or understanding. They are terrible, mostly white and racist, people and deserve zero sympathy.
A good bit of my engineering career was in manufacturing and a manufacturing engineer's "creedo" is "automate the jobs occupied by assholes first." And so we did and AI will do that even faster. For the last 100+ years, economists have imagined that the productivity gains and resultant capital from industry, technology, and automation (including AI) would, eventually, result in a more equitable society with far lower working hours for everyone. The only way that will happen is if the majority of a society insists on it. By "insist" I mean French Revolution style.
ASCAP and BMI figured out how to reward artists for the use of their music before spreadsheets (much less the internet) existed. If there was a will to compensate artists whose work LLMs are stealing, it would be possible. In the 1990s I worked on a software project to track use of patented products (and distribute compensation to them), and it was in fact not just a doable task, we did it.
The issue is, as your framing argument says, asset forfeiture to the few because of extreme imbalance of wealth and power. This is not left vs right or Ds vs Rs- it’s about democracy vs oligarchy. That’s why it’s so important for more people to understand what’s at stake, and your advocacy can make an impact. Thanks for speaking out.
It absolutely is doable. It's illegal to grab just any song and plunk it into a movie, or sample it in a new song, and make money off of the new product without permission or compensating the creators of that song. It would be just as plausible to make laws that make it illegal to use art for AI without permission from and/or compensating the original creators.
The AI businesses are making big money. The standards for these companies should be that they get everything that teaches their AI from people who they pay for their work; whether they are paying staff to create art and writing, or they pay people for each submission. They should have to be able to prove that they have permission and rights to each and every item that they feed into their AI learning system. This should be the law worldwide (just like there are copyright laws for music, television and movies worldwide), and all AI that exists now which have learned from scanning the internet should be wiped clean, and built back up properly and legally.
The AI companies are getting paid for their output; they can pay for the work that goes in. If they can't afford to pay, then they can't afford to run an AI company. A person can't go out and steal flour and eggs and sugar because they can't afford them and then start a cupcake business. It's ridiculous that anyone thinks it's not doable to put regulations on AI.
Very well written (and narrated). I know it's something you feel strongly about. I think, as someone who has created a new form of intellectual property, you are uniquely qualified to comment on this issue.
I agree, although I tend to be cynical about the intentions of someone with Senator Hawley's record - but we'll see.
Thank you Joe for standing for humanity and the rights of US citizens. I feel we are getting closer to living the reality of all the Sci-Fi movies I’ve ever seen. Surreal
Does this mean that we should also not post any content related to our profession on Instagram since it is a meta product? Won’t they feed that data into their meta AI?
Thank you for explaining the issues with AI. Personally, I instinctively feel danger.
In a sense, the barnyard doors are open and the horses are stampeding. I am wary of an AI that critically thinks without possessing a soul. Right, Kubrick? Kubrick? AI Kubrick? Anyone?
We have to fight for everything! All because of the "ask for permission later" mindset. Unethical business practices that only ask the question is there anything that says I can't. This is exhausting.
I work for a digital media company. We own and operate several christian, faith-based websites that have one soul purpose: informational content. Our websites proudly publish daily...Articles, podcasts, videos, devotionals, prayers, commentaries...It's all 100% unique, human-made content.
Since the release of Google's AI Overviews and Google's AI Mode, our website clicks have been cut by over 60% in many cases.
60+%
Because people are Googling informational content. Our websites are being scraped. And Google's AI Overviews are synthesizing the users' answers using our unique content.
We know it is our content because AI Overviews DO cite sources.
But clicks through to that cited content is down over 60%.
Google, ChatGPT, Perplexity, and others are outright stealing our hard work.
Google is keeping users on Google, using our content and they are the ones making ad revenue now - not us.
The proof is black and white. It's right there in our Google Search Console and GA4.
Much, much more needs to be done to protect publishers, creators, and artists.
There is a way for people to profit from their data instead of corporations. My bf (who used to work in startups in Palo Alto and Sweden) came up with a genius way that would free people from poverty and from the grasp of these companies. It might be a dangerous thing to go against these people so he needs the right partners for this to be true. But I really think this could revolutionize the future and free us from the shackles of meta and Amazon and google.
I always appreciate your empathetic approach. But I am a 30 year graphic design agency owner and a 25 year songwriter. I also started one of the largest ai radio stations and the highest ranked on google ai modeling agencies. I am about providing access to many that can’t either afford or didn’t have the ability, from struggling fashion brands to blind song writers who now use Suno to get their amazing thoughts and messages into the world. I also find that many who are against ai choose bitterness over joy. Bitterness that is going to steal their livelihood instead of joy that more people are entering the space that they love. While I understand aversion, bitterness leads to a host of other physical and emotional complications. Now, for those that are fearful of their jobs… just learn the platforms, you will be ahead of 90% of your competition because you can produce and ideate far more
Than the general population can. For example, I’m not a photographer, but my ai modeling agency roster is stacked because I learned and studied photographic principles and ai. A professional photographer could produce far more than I can, but many are just worried about their jobs. Learn it and compete. And while there does need to be some regulation it should be based on the fears of those in the creative industries. So was the fear of trad artists when digital came around, web coders when wysiwyg web platforms launched. The cream always rises to the top, both in Ai AND the traditional creative world. So I am going to keep loving the creative
Process, both in and out of AI, across every genre (music, photo, video, illustration, etc.) and choose joy over bitterness… it’s better for my heart anyway.
Responsible use of artificial intelligence and the protection of personal data transcend political divisions. These issues matter to everyone — creators, workers and citizens alike. We need frameworks that honour and reward human contributions, ensuring that the future of technology is not only efficient but also ethical and inclusive.
I always enjoy your comments, and would love to see you encourage more Canadians like me to be a part of a fair global creator community. They cannot take my work if I don’t share it. Underground Art used to be a thing. Perhaps it will be again.
Here is a better example. I like Joe’s work. He gets paid by the people who buy his work. I am subscribed to his Substack and I like the presentation we are commenting after. His paid subscribers are paying him a fee to see his stuff but he is also giving it away. If he does a movie, someone is paying him to act or direct, or maybe he is doing it independently of funding. BUT he makes the choice of what the value of his work is and where it is distributed.
I think it is the responsibility of every artist to make their own arrangements to get paid in a fair and equitable way. Obviously the way we are paid for previously created works is at issue for many. Going forward, charge a fair price for human creation. How does $10,000 sound as a starting price for my unfinished painting, that I may send you a picture of before you pay?
P.S. No government is ever going to protect you from your own decisions.
what if you make all your art analog and someone buys it and posts photos of it?
Do you want to buy my art so you can say it is yours? If you do then you will need to pay a fee that precludes you from wanting to give it away with a photograph. and at that point what you have paid for was the fair use to do what you want with it.
My painting is incomplete. What will you pay for it now? What will you pay for it when it is finished? Will I accept your offer? Probably not. Art is not really about money. Art is about Art.
whatever.
what i was saying is that as soon as you show or sell your art you cant be sure it is not gonna get online somewhere. you cant fully control it.
JGL, I hope you don't mind, I'm writing an article in response to yours. Bottom line? You're 10,000% correct. I'd add a few other things, but what I'd like to propose is solutions. First, a universal basic income (UBI) funded by the American land dividend plan by California governor candidate Zoltan Istvan. $1,000 a month for every person. pays for itself. Second, a universal basic needs guarantee (UBNG) like Bernie indirectly suggested, would actually save us nearly a trillion a year, give or take a quarter trillion; Medicare for All gives you the majority of that savings immediately. Third, you & your likeness are automatic IP just like a proposed bill in Denmark; I don't recall if it passed. Fourth, invest in exponential tech & infrastructure -- cold fusion, spin-photonic computers, quantum computing, MemComputing (available today) to reduce the energy expense of data centers & Big AI, solar panels everywhere, a national hyperloop (Elon Musk is a POS IMO -- but on the Hyperloop, I think he's right; we haven't figure it out yet, but I think we still can), hydrogen planes -- the end of fossil fuels, and vertical farming. Fifth, time to enforce anti-trust & anti-monopoly laws. These laws "are still on the books" and should be enforced. Sixth -- tax the rich. Tax them what we use to in the 1960s or 1970s, just before Ronald Reagan took over and destroyed this country.
"I didn’t vote for President Trump, but I think most of the people who did vote for him genuinely believed he would stand up against a powerful establishment and fight for working Americans." I can't decide if this is idealistic or downright gullible. I live in an area where slightly more than half of the locals voted for Trump and they absolutely didn't care who Trump stood "up against" as long as their educated, better paid, better informed urban neighbors suffered the same disappointments as themselves. Trump voters are pissed off that having loafed through school and their government provided advantages they are now poor, in debt, nearly homeless and unemployed and the modern world is beyond their grasp or understanding. They are terrible, mostly white and racist, people and deserve zero sympathy.
A good bit of my engineering career was in manufacturing and a manufacturing engineer's "creedo" is "automate the jobs occupied by assholes first." And so we did and AI will do that even faster. For the last 100+ years, economists have imagined that the productivity gains and resultant capital from industry, technology, and automation (including AI) would, eventually, result in a more equitable society with far lower working hours for everyone. The only way that will happen is if the majority of a society insists on it. By "insist" I mean French Revolution style.
ASCAP and BMI figured out how to reward artists for the use of their music before spreadsheets (much less the internet) existed. If there was a will to compensate artists whose work LLMs are stealing, it would be possible. In the 1990s I worked on a software project to track use of patented products (and distribute compensation to them), and it was in fact not just a doable task, we did it.
The issue is, as your framing argument says, asset forfeiture to the few because of extreme imbalance of wealth and power. This is not left vs right or Ds vs Rs- it’s about democracy vs oligarchy. That’s why it’s so important for more people to understand what’s at stake, and your advocacy can make an impact. Thanks for speaking out.
It absolutely is doable. It's illegal to grab just any song and plunk it into a movie, or sample it in a new song, and make money off of the new product without permission or compensating the creators of that song. It would be just as plausible to make laws that make it illegal to use art for AI without permission from and/or compensating the original creators.
The AI businesses are making big money. The standards for these companies should be that they get everything that teaches their AI from people who they pay for their work; whether they are paying staff to create art and writing, or they pay people for each submission. They should have to be able to prove that they have permission and rights to each and every item that they feed into their AI learning system. This should be the law worldwide (just like there are copyright laws for music, television and movies worldwide), and all AI that exists now which have learned from scanning the internet should be wiped clean, and built back up properly and legally.
The AI companies are getting paid for their output; they can pay for the work that goes in. If they can't afford to pay, then they can't afford to run an AI company. A person can't go out and steal flour and eggs and sugar because they can't afford them and then start a cupcake business. It's ridiculous that anyone thinks it's not doable to put regulations on AI.
exactly this.
Joe, thank you so much for advocating for creators!
Very well written (and narrated). I know it's something you feel strongly about. I think, as someone who has created a new form of intellectual property, you are uniquely qualified to comment on this issue.
I agree, although I tend to be cynical about the intentions of someone with Senator Hawley's record - but we'll see.
Thank you Joe for standing for humanity and the rights of US citizens. I feel we are getting closer to living the reality of all the Sci-Fi movies I’ve ever seen. Surreal
Does this mean that we should also not post any content related to our profession on Instagram since it is a meta product? Won’t they feed that data into their meta AI?
Thank you for explaining the issues with AI. Personally, I instinctively feel danger.
In a sense, the barnyard doors are open and the horses are stampeding. I am wary of an AI that critically thinks without possessing a soul. Right, Kubrick? Kubrick? AI Kubrick? Anyone?
We have to fight for everything! All because of the "ask for permission later" mindset. Unethical business practices that only ask the question is there anything that says I can't. This is exhausting.
I work for a digital media company. We own and operate several christian, faith-based websites that have one soul purpose: informational content. Our websites proudly publish daily...Articles, podcasts, videos, devotionals, prayers, commentaries...It's all 100% unique, human-made content.
Since the release of Google's AI Overviews and Google's AI Mode, our website clicks have been cut by over 60% in many cases.
60+%
Because people are Googling informational content. Our websites are being scraped. And Google's AI Overviews are synthesizing the users' answers using our unique content.
We know it is our content because AI Overviews DO cite sources.
But clicks through to that cited content is down over 60%.
Google, ChatGPT, Perplexity, and others are outright stealing our hard work.
Google is keeping users on Google, using our content and they are the ones making ad revenue now - not us.
The proof is black and white. It's right there in our Google Search Console and GA4.
Much, much more needs to be done to protect publishers, creators, and artists.
There is a way for people to profit from their data instead of corporations. My bf (who used to work in startups in Palo Alto and Sweden) came up with a genius way that would free people from poverty and from the grasp of these companies. It might be a dangerous thing to go against these people so he needs the right partners for this to be true. But I really think this could revolutionize the future and free us from the shackles of meta and Amazon and google.
I always appreciate your empathetic approach. But I am a 30 year graphic design agency owner and a 25 year songwriter. I also started one of the largest ai radio stations and the highest ranked on google ai modeling agencies. I am about providing access to many that can’t either afford or didn’t have the ability, from struggling fashion brands to blind song writers who now use Suno to get their amazing thoughts and messages into the world. I also find that many who are against ai choose bitterness over joy. Bitterness that is going to steal their livelihood instead of joy that more people are entering the space that they love. While I understand aversion, bitterness leads to a host of other physical and emotional complications. Now, for those that are fearful of their jobs… just learn the platforms, you will be ahead of 90% of your competition because you can produce and ideate far more
Than the general population can. For example, I’m not a photographer, but my ai modeling agency roster is stacked because I learned and studied photographic principles and ai. A professional photographer could produce far more than I can, but many are just worried about their jobs. Learn it and compete. And while there does need to be some regulation it should be based on the fears of those in the creative industries. So was the fear of trad artists when digital came around, web coders when wysiwyg web platforms launched. The cream always rises to the top, both in Ai AND the traditional creative world. So I am going to keep loving the creative
Process, both in and out of AI, across every genre (music, photo, video, illustration, etc.) and choose joy over bitterness… it’s better for my heart anyway.
Joe, I am in awe of your ability (and taking the care to) write clearly about emotive issues without rancour. 🙏🏻❤️