According to Suleyman, any content on the open web, including photographs, is fair use meaning that “anyone can copy it, recreate with it, reproduce with it.”“I think with respect to content that’s already on the open web, the social contract of that content since the ’90s has been that it is fair use. Anyone can copy it, recreate with it, reproduce with it. That has been ‘freeware’, if you like, that’s been the understanding,” Suleyman says.
Suleyman’s claims are demonstrably untrue. If a photographer posts their work online it does not automatically become available to use for a trillion-dollar company like Microsoft or its partners OpenAI. “Fair use is a legal doctrine that allows limited use of copyrighted material without permission, but it has specific conditions,” Sulleyman’s product replied. “Some exceptions include non-commercial research, private study, criticism, review, and reporting current events.”about content on the open web because it is the lifeblood of their products without which generative AI models cannot be made.