[The Editors' Verdict] The Last Guardrail for 'Unleashed AI'

The fallout from the ousting of Sam Altman, a board member of OpenAI, which captured the attention of the global artificial intelligence (AI) industry, was significant. Although the period from his dismissal as CEO to his reinstatement was less than a week, it is considered a turning point as it determined the major direction of the AI industry, which stood at the crossroads of 'ethics and commercialization.' Coincidentally, Altman’s return to OpenAI coincided with the one-year anniversary of the launch of 'ChatGPT,' and the prevailing assessment is that this will accelerate the commercialization of AI. There are already rumors that the development of AI surpassing human capabilities has begun.

However, honestly, concerns outweigh expectations regarding this massive shift. Regardless of the consequences of excessive AI development, it is uncertain whether rapid commercialization will benefit the development of various content fields, including media and culture and arts. To succeed in commercialization, the amount of data used will inevitably increase exponentially, but the mechanisms to protect content and creators remain insufficient.

Content protection could be even more vulnerable if the AI commercialization craze hits South Korea. The government has decided to include in the ‘AI Utilization Guidelines’ to be announced next month the provision that ‘fair compensation must be paid for works used as AI data.’ However, just four months ago, the stance was to establish exemptions from copyright infringement for data used for AI training. This meant that copyright would not apply to data necessary for training to foster related industries, but after opposition and persuasion from content-related organizations, the position quickly changed.

This policy could be overturned again, given that the major IT companies leading AI development have yet to express a clear stance on ‘fair compensation.’ The government is placing weight on the possibility that the IT industry will continue to advocate for ‘fair use’ that limits copyright on data to promote industry growth next year. If the global AI industry flow significantly tilts toward commercialization, it is inevitable that calls to limit copyright to secure industrial competitiveness will grow louder.

The current power imbalance between IT companies and creators also raises concerns. Although some companies have recently shown progressive moves by offering to pay for content usage, the amounts proposed are far too low. If AI commercialization accelerates, this power imbalance is likely to worsen. This is why the creative industry remains uneasy despite the government’s policy of ‘fair compensation.’

Recently, the legal community has been paying attention to the Australian case. In 2021, Australia became the first country in the world to legislate the News Media and Digital Platforms Mandatory Bargaining Code, which requires major portals like Google to pay news usage fees to news organizations. Following this, Google signed a long-term contract with Australia’s largest media group, Seven West Media, to supply news content for approximately 26 billion Korean won at the time. This was the result of the Morrison government in April 2020 instructing the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) to develop mandatory regulations to address the bargaining power imbalance between digital platforms and media companies, as the media environment deteriorated due to the rise of portals. Australia’s legislation suggests that government intervention is inevitable to resolve the power imbalance between portals and the press.

Our government is also expected to discuss specific methods of ‘compensation payment’ in the second term of the ‘AI-Copyright Law System Improvement Working Group,’ which will be launched next year. This case is considered a reference to catch both rabbits of AI activation and copyright protection.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.