Tony StubblebineMar 26, 2023

Is there any benefit to the author of letting a for profit LLM like OpenAI spider and consume their writing? I can’t think of any.

If that’s true, then should we be rethinking Creative Commons licenses? I’m wondering if the current one we use at Medium is obsolete.

At least with something like Google there was an exchange of value: contribute to their search results and get traffic back.

Show threadAnil DashMar 26, 2023
@coachtony It does seem very much like the post-Flickr era of open licenses largely became fodder for exploitation in the same way that most of open source software exists largely without any support from the extractive big tech companies which rely on it. Perhaps the requirement should have been equity, not attribution.
Show threadNelson MinarMar 26, 2023

@anildash @coachtony does there need to be direct financial benefit here? Not every use of creative material needs to be a transaction. The theory of Creative Commons was to literally make a commons of creative works. Why is it a problem if software is also benefiting?

(I'm motivated by maximizing the current boom in AI research and development. I do worry that these systems benefit large commercial players right now but am hopeful that will change.)

Show threadTony StubblebineMar 26, 2023
@nelson @anildash well, not financial. But as we know there are many ways to be compensated including status and influence. I don't think there is any meaningful exchange back to the author.
Show threadNelson MinarMar 26, 2023
@coachtony @anildash I agree, the individual authors are getting nothing (or in some cases harmed, as in "make art in the style of <living artist>". I'm postulating that culture as a large will benefit. It's a fraught argument but I think worth consideration.
Show threadTony Stubblebine

@nelson @anildash

Yeah, I get it. We are projecting the future and there is no way to know who is right because we aren't going to A/B test this.

I lean more toward "let's have a Butlerian Jihad" but I don't fault you for leaning the other way.

Mar 26, 2023 at 6:06pmWeb
Show threadskryMar 26, 2023
@coachtony @vaurora @nelson @anildash And/or it might lead to a new level of if-you’re-not-ingested-you-don’t-exist. The devil’s bargain being to become part of the babble in exchange for being findable by search engines.