The Revolution will Be Digitized: Generative AI, Synthetic Media, and the Medium of Disruption

Abstract

OpenAI’s text generation program ChatGPT and the text-to-image generators Stable Diffusion and Dall-E have broken records for early public adoption, capital investment, and a technological shift potentially more far-reaching than even the internet itself. The broad category of generative AI has the potential to disrupt industry, art, and culture, both if done poorly and if done well. Despite significant problems with accuracy and deep concerns about the social and legal consequences of the premature adoption of these technologies, global multinational enterprises are moving these projects out of the test labs and into everyday use. This article provides a comprehensive, but introductory overview of the development of generative AI, the training methods used to produce artificially generated content, the industry opportunities for generative AI, and the legal considerations that enterprises adopting these technologies should consider involving intellectual property. After discussing the development and implementation of the technology, the article emphasizes the key concerns regarding copyright, trademark, and trade secret. The article also identifies areas in which the growth of generative AI will require new federal legislation to retain the balance of creativity and commercial development within intellectual property laws.

Keywords: Artificial Intelligence, AI, GenAI, generative, copyright, publicity rights, First Amendment, Free Speech, trademarks, bias, algorithm, technology, trade secret, IP, law

JEL Classification: K1, K13, K31, K39, L10, L24, L82, L86, O34,