Artists Fight Back: High Court Plea Against AI's Unauthorized Use of Creative Works

A new plea filed in the Delhi High Court seeks protective regulations against AI platforms unlawfully using artists' works. The plea demands amendments to the IT Act and highlights the misuse of creative content for AI model training, impacting artists' livelihoods and violating copyright laws.

A legal plea has been submitted to the Delhi High Court requesting the formulation of rules to protect artists from the unauthorized use of their creations by artificial intelligence platforms. The appeal also calls for modifications to the IT Act, aiming to establish a framework for regulating AI, thereby mitigating associated risks to systems and society.

The judicial request will be heard by a bench led by Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela. This hearing will coincide with another case concerning the misuse of deepfake technology. The court recently directed a committee under the Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology to address deepfake-related issues.

According to a November 21 order, the bench instructed this committee to collaborate with various stakeholders, including internet and telecom service providers, victims of deepfakes, and relevant websites. The plea, filed by individuals including Kanchan Nagar and Vikas Saboo, alongside Mash Audio Visuals Private Limited, claims AI platforms unlawfully exploit artists' original works to train generative AI software, constituting a significant breach of copyright protections under the Copyright Act, 1957.

The petitioners argue that this practice threatens artists' livelihoods, with AI systems replacing creative jobs, thereby posing an existential risk to their careers. The petition highlights that AI platforms utilize copyrighted images from stock photography sites like Images Bazaar to generate similar yet distinct outputs through unauthorized AI model training.

This not only violates intellectual property rights but also undermines the efforts of creative professionals and infringes upon the personality rights of freelance models in such photographs. The plea emphasizes the existential threat posed by AI systems replicating artistic styles of photographers, writers, and other creators. (ANI)

(With inputs from agencies.)