Apr 27, 2023 17:00:00

Photographer who claimed unauthorized use of work by image generation AI is claimed for damages

Photographs taken by humans are subject to various laws, such as

copyrights and portrait rights . However, in the field of AI, which is rapidly developing and spreading, the reality is that legal regulations have not caught up. Meanwhile, a photographer who claims that his photos have been used to learn AI reveals that he is being sued for damages.

AI used photographer's photos for training, then slapped him with an invoice
https://www.diyphotography.net/ai-used-photographers-photos-for-training-then-slapped-him-with-an-invoice/

LAION eV macht ernst: Schadensersatzforderung an Urheber für KI-Trainingsdaten - Alltag eines Fotoproduzenten

https://www.alltageinesfotoproduzenten.de/2023/04/24/laion-ev-macht-ernst-schadensersatzforderung-an-urheber-fuer-ki-trainingsdaten/

In early 2023, German photographer Robert Kneschke searched for '

Have I Been Trained? ' I discovered that many of my works are included in the large-scale data set ' LAION ' of images that I collected without consulting the rights holders.

``Have I Been Trained?'' that allows you to search whether your work has been used arbitrarily for image generation AI-GIGAZINE

Therefore, Mr. Kuneschke asked LAION, 'I want you to delete your work from LAION's learning data.' Then, the law firm in charge of LAION, Heidrich Rechtsanwälte, said, 'LAION is further developing a self-learning algorithm in the sense of artificial intelligence and conducting independent research with the aim of making it available to the public.' We only store databases that contain links to image files published in , and we do not store the image data itself.' Mr. Kuneschke has the right to request that his work be deleted from LAION's learning data. I received a reply claiming that there is no. Heidrich Rechtsanwälte allegedly sent the same letter to other photographers.

Heidrich Rechtsanwälte denies LAION's copyright infringement, but points out to Mr. Kneschke, 'We, Heidrich Rechtsanwälte, have the right to claim damages in accordance with German copyright law in the event of unjustified claims against LAION. Until now, LAION has refrained from claiming damages, but we cannot continue to rely on it forever.LAION has incurred legal fees to defend against unjustified claims, but this is It is not originally borne by the LAION side,' and claims a total of 887.03 euros (about 130,000 yen) for damages to Mr. Kuneschke.

The person in charge of Heidrich Rechtsanwälte said, ``The copying act associated with learning performed by LAION is temporary and is subject to the restrictions of German copyright law.However, LAION stores only the database, and the image data LAION finds image files on the Internet for learning self-learning algorithms using so-called crawlers , and records and evaluates them to obtain the information. I don't think it's an infringement,' he said.

Regarding Heidrich Rechtsanwälte's reference to the use of crawlers in LAION, Mr. Kneschke said, 'Given the fact that most photo posting sites prohibit the use of crawlers, the claim that LION used crawlers is interesting.' He also points out, ``I wonder where LAION got the photos that should have been deleted from the image sharing site before LAION was established.''

Heidrich Rechtsanwälte says: “LAION fundamentally understands that photographers do not like having their work duplicated and used to train AI, even temporarily. is an act expressly permitted by law, so Mr. Kuneschke must withdraw his request to remove his work from the dataset.'

On the other hand, Mr. Kuneschke said, ``AI-related companies like LAION use a large amount of copyrighted material to learn and try to make a profit. It is extremely reasonable to warn against the request that ``there is a possibility of claiming damages.'' However, I will prove the legitimacy of requesting deletion of the work data that I learned, and I will fight it in court. I intend to,” he said.