generative AI

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Point of View – The Copyright Jungle

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copyright - deposit photos

The recent Anthropic AI settlement has me thinking a lot about copyright. I’m in the US, and we can register our works with the US copyright office. It’s not hugely expensive – about $45 if you do it before publication and $65 if you do it after the fact. But US copyright law also says that if you indicate that a work is copyrighted – by including a copyright page – then you are covered by copyright protections without having to formally register. So it’s not always been necessary to do the paid registration to enjoy copyright protection in the … Read more

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Point of View: Selling Books at a Time of Existential Threats

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This is Fine

We’ve all seen the meme. In a world that seems to be burning down around us, it captures that horrible frozen feeling many of us have that the forces moving around us are just too large to comprehend, let alone combat. Have you seen the whole original comic strip this came from? It’s by artist KC Green, and there’s a great interview and explanation here at The Verge. This is the world we as authors are living in. Lately a new version has been making the rounds, where “This is fine” is replaced with “Buy my book”: And here’s a … Read more

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Point of View: What Will It Mean to Be Human in an AI Future?

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humans staring at a robot in a job interview waiting room - deposit photos

I’m a sci-fi writer, which means, among other things, that I am tasked with thinking about the future and how it will unfold and sharing this with my readers. And there’s a lot to think about these days. There’s climate change, first and foremost – if it goes unaddressed, it will eventually smash human civilization to bits. There’s the rise of right-wing populism, which threatens to upend democratic institutions around the world (and already has in many places). But nothing has captured the public imagination at this moment more than Generative AI, and its impacts on the human condition. Something … Read more

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Point of View: It Matters What We Do, and that We Do It

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artist - deposit photos

I recently saw a disturbing quote from Elon Musk (I know – is there any other kind?): “It’s hard to say exactly what that moment is, but there will come a point where no job is needed,” the tech billionaire said. “You can have a job if you want to have a job — sort of personal satisfaction — but the AI will be able to do everything.” I normally try to keep this column (and my life in general) a Musk-free zone, but I think he’s getting at something important here. We are moving into an era where it’s … Read more