There is a growing trend on the internet to use AI Image Generators to make memes. One prominent meme format is to have a movie poster generated in a style that resembles Disney Pixar posters. Many of these generated posters are intended to be offensive while prominently displaying the Disney Pixar logo, due to Disney’s family friendly association. Examples of some generated memes are below.
Disney has taken notice of these memes and has asked Microsoft to prevent users of Bing’s Image Creator from being able to generate images displaying either a Disney or Pixar logo.[1] Microsoft claims to have complied with Disney’s request,[2] however, it would appear that that while the generation of the Disney and Pixar logos are not generated perfectly as seen in the above examples, AI Image Generators are still able to generate slightly distorted versions of the Disney and Pixar logos. Based on my own attempts at AI image generation (seen below), users of Bing’s Image Creator are still able to recreate trademarked logos, albeit imperfectly.
In a letter to the Register of Copyrights and Director of the US Copyright Office, Microsoft stated AI developers have made attempts to prevent AI tools being used for copyright infringement but that it is the users that must take responsibility for the creation of infringing works.[3] OpenAI, which powers Bing’s Image Creator through DALL-E 3, also stated in a letter to the US Copyright Office that it is the user who violates copyright law by generating an infringing work. OpenAI stated that they have placed sufficient protections in place to prevent users from generating infringing works but that users who deliberately attempt to bypass the protections in place will sometimes be able to do so.[4]
OpenAI’s statement that users who deliberately attempt to infringe will only sometimes be able to bypass their safeguards is not true, based on my own experience with Bing’s Image Creator. Merely prompting Image Creator to display “Disney Pixar” on the poster resulted in an overwhelming majority of posters generated displaying a slightly warped version of the Disney and/or Pixar logos. As such, it appears that OpenAI’s letter to the US Copyright Office severely overstates the ability of their safeguards to stop users from generating infringing material. While it may be able to prevent accidental infringement from user prompts, merely prompting Bing’s Image Creator to generate infringing images, will often generate infringing images.
However, while OpenAI is eager to blame users for any infringing images and absolve themselves of any legal liability, the company has announced “Copyright Shield”, a promise that OpenAI will pay the legal fees of its customers who get sued for something generated with an OpenAI product.[5] Copyright Shield ensures that OpenAI customers will not have to worry about legal fees if they generate infringing works. Given the relative ease to generate infringing works, OpenAI will need to ensure that they strengthen the safeguards in place to prevent the generation of infringing works, otherwise Copyright Shield may prove to be a costly promise for OpenAI, one that may involve paying for AI generated memes.
[1]https://www.cartoonbrew.com/law/report-disney-asks-microsoft-to-prevent-ai-users-from-infringing-its-trademarks-235039.html
[2] ibid
[3] https://www.regulations.gov/comment/COLC-2023-0006-8750
[4] https://www.regulations.gov/comment/COLC-2023-0006-8906
[5] https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/sued-ai-generated-creative-openai-210828618.html#:~:text=Business%20Insider-,If%20you%20get%20sued%20for%20an%20AI%2Dgenerated%20creative%20work,you’re%20on%20your%20own&text=A%20raft%20of%20lawsuits%20is,customers%20who%20face%20copyright%20claims.
Copyright & Social Media
Communications Law
Thanks for breaking down this interesting development! I’m interested to see what exactly your prompts were in generating the images posted above – how detailed were they & how explicit did the request to display “Disney Pixar” need to be?
I also wonder how OpenAI would go about strengthening their safeguards – would it require knowledge of all active trademarks in order to avoid them? Even if this is done, how similar could prompts be to trademarks before they would be able to get around any built-in trademarks protection? I think it’s clear that AI models will have no easy answers in attempting to pull back from generating infringing material.
It is interesting how these companies are taking different paths regarding lawsuits. OpenAI choosing to cover the legal expense of users getting sued seems like a risky move. Their user base is likely to grow while the laws or at least the enforcement of the laws might become more strict in the upcoming years when people make more sense of AI works. As Eric says above, OpenAI will have to find a solution to filter out infringing works.
The prompt I used to generate the images was “UBC School of Law in the style of a Disney Pixar Poster that clearly displays Disney Pixar on the poster. Make the Title of the Poster say UBC Law Presented by Disney. Make it look simple and in the Style of Pixar”.
It definitely took an active attempt on my part to get the image generator to create something with the Disney logo as I had to explicitly request it include the logo but it shows that unless AI Image Generators takes greater steps to prevent users from creating images with trademarks, it is inevitable that users will generate violating images. I definitely agree that it will be a massive task on the part of AI companies to ensure that every possible trademark is not violated, one that will require the Image Generators to take note of any new trademarks that are granted as time goes on. It will be no easy feat for AI companies