Website Station (ChinaZ.com) June 20 News: Recently, the Beijing Internet Court held an online trial for four cases where illustrators sued the developers and operators of AI painting software for copyright infringement. The plaintiffs in these four cases are all well-known illustrators who discovered that their original works posted on a content sharing platform were extensively imitated by AI painting software and used as training materials to generate new artworks. These AI-generated artworks not only closely resembled the style of the plaintiffs' works but were also used extensively for commercial purposes, causing significant harm to the plaintiffs' interests.
The plaintiffs believe that the defendants, without permission, used the plaintiffs' works to train AI models and used the generated works for commercial purposes, far exceeding the scope of fair use. They claim that the defendants infringed on their rights to reproduce, adapt, and use their works for training AI models. Additionally, the plaintiffs are concerned that these AI-generated artworks will replace their original works, causing devastating impacts on their market.
During the trial, the plaintiffs provided ample evidence to support their claims, including the user agreements of the AI painting software, promotional materials, and the official homepage of the defendants on the content sharing platform. Additionally, the plaintiffs requested the presence of technical assistants to explain technical issues related to AI large model training.
However, the defendants insisted that their actions did not constitute infringement. They stated that there was no substantial similarity between the plaintiffs' works and the AI-generated artworks, and that the large model training behavior, even if it used the plaintiffs' works, should constitute fair use. Furthermore, the third defendant denied providing the plaintiffs' works to the other defendants and emphasized that they had not committed any infringing acts.
The case is currently under further review.