Rights, ethics and the argument

Member lesson

Style, and whether anyone can own one

Lesson 4 of 11 in Rights, ethics and the argument.

Can artists protect their work from AI? – BBC News · BBC News
Lesson

Copyright protects expression rather than style, which is why illustrators have never been able to stop imitators and why this is not a new problem. What is new is the speed and the scale: a model can produce a thousand images in somebody's manner in an afternoon.

A painter works at a canvas beside a wall of small pinned studies: a colour patch, a soft shadow edge, a single brushstroke and a cropped corner. Across the room, someone else's framed painting hangs turned to face the wall.
Pin up the qualities you admire, not another artist's name. Then make something of your own.
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  1. Question 1, locked

    Which of these words means this? “A manner of working. Generally not protected by copyright anywhere.”

    • Text and data mining exception
    • Passing off
    • Material information
    • Style
  2. Question 2, locked

    Which of these words means this? “Protection for a distinctive commercial look. Narrow, and occasionally relevant.”

    • Deskilling
    • Inference cost
    • Guidance
    • Trade dress
  3. Question 3, locked

    Which of these words means this? “Presenting your work as somebody else's. Actionable in several systems.”

    • Passing off
    • EU AI Act
    • Licensed dataset
    • Output similarity

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