OpenAI Used Song Lyrics In Violation of Copyright Laws, German Court Says
A Munich court ruled that OpenAI violated German copyright law by training its models on lyrics from nine songs and allowing ChatGPT to reproduce them. OpenAI now faces damages as it considers an appeal. Reuters reports: The regional court in Munich found that the company trained its AI on protected content from nine German songs, … ⌘ Read more

↳ In-reply-to » @bender Thanks for this illustration, it completely “misunderstood” everything I wrote and confidently spat out garbage. 👌

@prologic@twtxt.net Let’s go through it one by one. Here’s a wall of text that took me over 1.5 hours to write.

The criticism of AI as untrustworthy is a problem of misapplication, not capability.

This section says AI should not be treated as an authority. This is actually just what I said, except the AI phrased/framed it like it was a counter-argument.

The AI also said that users must develop “AI literacy”, again phrasing/framing it like a counter-argument. Well, that is also just what I said. I said you should treat AI output like a random blog and you should verify the sources, yadda yadda. That is “AI literacy”, isn’t it?

My text went one step further, though: I said that when you take this requirement of “AI literacy” into account, you basically end up with a fancy search engine, with extra overhead that costs time. The AI missed/ignored this in its reply.

Okay, so, the AI also said that you should use AI tools just for drafting and brainstorming. Granted, a very rough draft of something will probably be doable. But then you have to diligently verify every little detail of this draft – okay, fine, a draft is a draft, it’s fine if it contains errors. The thing is, though, that you really must do this verification. And I claim that many people will not do it, because AI outputs look sooooo convincing, they don’t feel like a draft that needs editing.

Can you, as an expert, still use an AI draft as a basis/foundation? Yeah, probably. But here’s the kicker: You did not create that draft. You were not involved in the “thought process” behind it. When you, a human being, make a draft, you often think something like: “Okay, I want to draw a picture of a landscape and there’s going to be a little house, but for now, I’ll just put in a rough sketch of the house and add the details later.” You are aware of what you left out. When the AI did the draft, you are not aware of what’s missing – even more so when every AI output already looks like a final product. For me, personally, this makes it much harder and slower to verify such a draft, and I mentioned this in my text.

Skill Erosion vs. Skill Evolution

You, @prologic@twtxt.net, also mentioned this in your car tyre example.

In my text, I gave two analogies: The gym analogy and the Google Translate analogy. Your car tyre example falls in the same category, but Gemini’s calculator example is different (and, again, gaslight-y, see below).

What I meant in my text: A person wants to be a programmer. To me, a programmer is a person who writes code, understands code, maintains code, writes documentation, and so on. In your example, a person who changes a car tyre would be a mechanic. Now, if you use AI to write the code and documentation for you, are you still a programmer? If you have no understanding of said code, are you a programmer? A person who does not know how to change a car tyre, is that still a mechanic?

No, you’re something else. You should not be hired as a programmer or a mechanic.

Yes, that is “skill evolution” – which is pretty much my point! But the AI framed it like a counter-argument. It didn’t understand my text.

(But what if that’s our future? What if all programming will look like that in some years? I claim: It’s not possible. If you don’t know how to program, then you don’t know how to read/understand code written by an AI. You are something else, but you’re not a programmer. It might be valid to be something else – but that wasn’t my point, my point was that you’re not a bloody programmer.)

Gemini’s calculator example is garbage, I think. Crunching numbers and doing mathematics (i.e., “complex problem-solving”) are two different things. Just because you now have a calculator, doesn’t mean it’ll free you up to do mathematical proofs or whatever.

What would have worked is this: Let’s say you’re an accountant and you sum up spendings. Without a calculator, this takes a lot of time and is error prone. But when you have one, you can work faster. But once again, there’s a little gaslight-y detail: A calculator is correct. Yes, it could have “bugs” (hello Intel FDIV), but its design actually properly calculates numbers. AI, on the other hand, does not understand a thing (our current AI, that is), it’s just a statistical model. So, this modified example (“accountant with a calculator”) would actually have to be phrased like this: Suppose there’s an accountant and you give her a magic box that spits out the correct result in, what, I don’t know, 70-90% of the time. The accountant couldn’t rely on this box now, could she? She’d either have to double-check everything or accept possibly wrong results. And that is how I feel like when I work with AI tools.

Gemini has no idea that its calculator example doesn’t make sense. It just spits out some generic “argument” that it picked up on some website.

3. The Technical and Legal Perspective (Scraping and Copyright)

The AI makes two points here. The first one, I might actually agree with (“bad bot behavior is not the fault of AI itself”).

The second point is, once again, gaslighting, because it is phrased/framed like a counter-argument. It implies that I said something which I didn’t. Like the AI, I said that you would have to adjust the copyright law! At the same time, the AI answer didn’t even question whether it’s okay to break the current law or not. It just said “lol yeah, change the laws”. (I wonder in what way the laws would have to be changed in the AI’s “opinion”, because some of these changes could kill some business opportunities – or the laws would have to have special AI clauses that only benefit the AI techbros. But I digress, that wasn’t part of Gemini’s answer.)

tl;dr

Except for one point, I don’t accept any of Gemini’s “criticism”. It didn’t pick up on lots of details, ignored arguments, and I can just instinctively tell that this thing does not understand anything it wrote (which is correct, it’s just a statistical model).

And it framed everything like a counter-argument, while actually repeating what I said. That’s gaslighting: When Alice says “the sky is blue” and Bob replies with “why do you say the sky is purple?!”

But it sure looks convincing, doesn’t it?

Never again

This took so much of my time. I won’t do this again. 😂

↳ In-reply-to » For the innocent bystanders (because I know that I won’t change @bender’s opinion):

And, one last missed:

• AI is Forcing Legal Modernization: The copyright double standard is a failure of outdated law. AI provides the necessary impetus for legal reform to either create fair compensation frameworks for creators or establish a clear new definition of fair use for data-driven models.

↳ In-reply-to » For the innocent bystanders (because I know that I won’t change @bender’s opinion):

@movq@www.uninformativ.de Gemini liked your opinion very much. Here is how it countered:

1. The User Perspective (Untrustworthiness)

The criticism of AI as untrustworthy is a problem of misapplication, not capability.

• AI as a Force Multiplier: AI should be treated as a high-speed drafting and brainstorming tool, not an authority. For experts, it offers an immense speed gain, shifting the work from slow manual creation to fast critical editing and verification.
  
• The Rise of AI Literacy: Users must develop a new skill—AI literacy—to critically evaluate and verify AI’s probabilistic output. This skill, along with improving citation features in AI tools, mitigates the “gaslighting” effect.
  

2. The Moral/Political Perspective (Skill Erosion)

The fear of skill loss is based on a misunderstanding of how technology changes the nature of work; it’s skill evolution, not erosion.

• Shifting Focus to High-Level Skills: Just as the calculator shifted focus from manual math to complex problem-solving, AI shifts the focus from writing boilerplate code to architectural design and prompt engineering. It handles repetitive tasks, freeing humans for creative and complex challenges.
  
• Accessibility and Empowerment: AI serves as a powerful democratizing tool, offering personalized tutoring and automation to people who lack deep expertise. While dependency is a risk, this accessibility empowers a wider segment of the population previously limited by skill barriers.
  

3. The Technical and Legal Perspective (Scraping and Copyright)

The legal and technical flaws are issues of governance and ethical practice, not reasons to reject the core technology.

• Need for Better Bot Governance: Destructive scraping is a failure of ethical web behavior and can be solved with better bot identification, rate limits, and protocols (like enhanced robots.txt). The solution is to demand digital citizenship from AI companies, not to stop AI development.

↳ In-reply-to » The bots have begun to access my website way more often. I’m getting about 120k hits on https://www.uninformativ.de/git/ now in a couple of hours.

“But all your stuff is MIT licensed! They are allowed to do that!”

Haha. As if they would care. They crawl everything they get their hands on.

Besides, that’s not true, the license states that the copyright notice must be retained. “AI” breaks that. They incorporate my code and my articles in their product and make it appear as if it was their work.

On my blog: Copyright Thoughts https://john.colagioia.net/blog/2025/05/18/copyright-thoughts.html #copyright #freeculture #rant

↳ In-reply-to » Didn’t know this side of Aurora. 😂

@prologic@twtxt.net Yeah and I don’t get why … There’s no copyrighted music in it, no ads (at least I don’t see any) … Just weird. 🥴

10 Exciting Things Entering the Public Domain in 2025
When a work enters the public domain, it’s like releasing an immortal animal into the wild after it has been caged for a hundred years. Now freed from copyright restrictions, the work can be studied, reinterpreted, and explored in ways that better reveal its true nature. Scholars, creators, and fans are granted new freedoms to […]

The post [10 Exciting Things Entering the Public Domain in 2025](https://listverse.com/2025/01/03 … ⌘ Read more

“Plez give me all the compute, money, and copyright allowance and i give you shitty autocomplete for fee!” - Tech Bro.

RT by @mind_booster: Gostava de ouvir por exemplo um debate sobre as opções do Governo em termos tecnológicos, e que se percebesse o fundamento político de contratar já soluções com o ChatGPT enquanto o CEO ameaça sair da Europa por não estar disposto a revelar se os dados do modelo são copyrighted.
Gostava de ouvir por exemplo um debate sobre as opções do Governo em termos tecnológicos, e que se percebesse o fundamento político de contratar já soluções com o ChatGPT enquanto o CEO ameaça sair da Europa por não … ⌘ Read more

↳ In-reply-to » Looks like Google's using this blog post of mine without my permission. I hate this kind of tech company crap so much.

There’s a link to the blog post, but they extracted a summary in hopes of keeping people in Google properties (something they’ve been called out on many times).

I was never contacted to ask if I was OK with Google extracting a summary of my blog post and sticking it on the web site. There is a very clear copyright designation at the bottom of each page, including that one. So, by putting their own brand over my text, they violated my copyright. Straightforward theft right there.

On LinkedIn I see a lot of posts aimed at software developers along the lines of “If you’re not using these AI tools (X,Y,Z) you’re going to be left behind.”

Two things about that:

1. No you’re not. If you have good soft skills (good communication, show up on time, general time management) then you’re already in excellent shape. No AI can do that stuff, and for that alone no AI can replace people
   
2. This rhetoric is coming directly from the billionaires who are laying off tech people by the 100s of thousands as part of the class war they’ve been conducting against all working people since the 1940s. They want you to believe that you have to scramble and claw over one another to learn the “AI” that they’re forcing onto the world, so that you stop honing the skills that matter (see #1) and are easier to obsolete later. Don’t fall for it. It’s far from clear how this will shake out once governments get off their asses and start regulating this stuff, by the way–most of these “AI” tools are blatantly breaking copyright and other IP laws, and some day that’ll catch up with them.
   

That said, it is helpful to know thy enemy.

**RT by @mind_booster: Na 🇫🇮, o Parlamento rejeitou a proposta de transposição da diretiva do dto de autor, por não assegurar o balanço necessário com os dtos humanos, nomeadamente o dto à educação e ciência.

Em 🇵🇹, este tipo de preocupações nem sequer foram consideradas.
¼
https://libereurope.eu/article/the-fundamental-right-to-education-and-science-constitutional-law-v-copyright-law/**
Na 🇫🇮, o Parlamento rejeitou a proposta de transposição da diretiva do dto de autor, por não assegurar o balanço necessário … ⌘ Read more

RT by @mind_booster: A @AssembleiaRepub aprovou hoje a autorização para o @govpt fazer sozinho a transposição da diretiva de direitos de autor.
A favor: PS, PSD, CH
Contra: IL, BE, PCP, Livre, PAN
Declarações de voto: Emília Cerqueira (PSD) e Rodrigo Saraiva (IL)
#copyright #Artigo17 #Article17
1/3
A @AssembleiaRepub aprovou hoje a autorização para o @govpt fazer sozinho a transposição da direti … ⌘ Read more

RT by @mind_booster: We join Portuguese civil society in a call to the country’s parliament to ensure that the transposition of the #Copyright Directive is subject to an open and transparent discussion. 🇵🇹
We join Portuguese civil society in a call to the country’s parliament to ensure that the transposition of the #Copyright Directive is subject to an open and transparent discussion. 🇵🇹 ⌘ Read more

RT by @mind_booster: Novidades acerca do famoso #artigo17 (o dos filtros de upload)
Amanhã, na Assembleia de República (AR), é votada uma proposta de autorização legislativa em que a AR autoriza o Governo a legislar sozinho a transposição da directiva.
🧵⬇️
1/5
#copyright #Artigo17 href=”https://we.loveprivacy.club/search?q=%23Article17”>#Article17**
Novidades acerca do famoso #artigo17 (o dos filtros de upload)

Amanhã, na Assembleia de República (AR), é votada uma proposta de autorização legislativa em que a AR autoriza o … ⌘ Read more

**RT by @mind_booster: Save the date! Feb 13th.

Upcoming webinar: Flexible exceptions - the next step for Europe?

Focus:Open norms and civil law jurisdictions in Europe + a look at the experience of civil law countries in E Asia who have introduced them.

Chair @Senficon

👇🏻
https://www.knowledgerights21.org/news-story/upcoming-webinar-13-february-flexible-copyright-exceptions-the-next-step-for-europe/**
Save the date! Feb 13th.

Upcoming webinar: Flexible exceptions - the next step for Europe?

Focus:Ope … ⌘ Read more

RT by @mind_booster: Ten Years Later, The EU Orphan Works Directive Is Officially A Failure – Just As The Copyright Industry Intended https://www.techdirt.com/2022/12/16/ten-years-later-the-eu-orphan-works-directive-is-officially-a-failure-just-as-the-copyright-industry-intended/
Ten Years Later, The EU Orphan Works Directive Is Officially A Failure – Just As The Copyright Industry Intended [techdirt.com/2022/12/16/ten-…](https://www.techdirt.com/2022/12/16/ten-years-later-the-eu-orphan-works-directive-is-offici … ⌘ Read more

**RT by @mind_booster: HOJE! : Portugal, AR,
CULTURA, COMUNICAÇÃO, JUVENTUDE E DESPORTO

“Autoriza o Governo a legislar [..] sobre direitos de autor e conexos […] , transpondo a Diretiva (UE) 2019/789”

https://www.parlamento.pt/sites/com/XVLeg/12CCCJD/Paginas/default.aspx

Sem participação pública?

#Copyright #CopyrightDirective #Portugal**
HOJE! : Portugal, AR,

CULTURA, COMUNICAÇÃO, JUVENTUDE E DESPORTO

“Autoriza o Governo a legislar [..] sobre direitos de autor e conexos […] , transpondo a Diretiva (UE) 2019 … ⌘ Read more

RT by @mind_booster: Associação @Communia_EU atualiza recomendações para a próxima década #PublicDomain #Copyright https://paulasimoesblog.wordpress.com/2022/06/03/associacao-communia_eu-atualiza-recomendacoes-para-a-proxima-decada-publicdomain-copyright/
Associação @Communia_EU atualiza recomendações para a próxima década #PublicDomain #Copyright [paulasimoesblog.wordpress … ⌘ Read more

**RT by @mind_booster: Notas da Semana 16/05/2022
Metadados (ainda)
Pressão da CE sobre os Estados-Membros na transposição da directiva do copyright
Relatório da IFLA
Livros & Reviews

https://paulasimoesblog.wordpress.com/2022/05/20/notas-da-semana-16-05-2022/**
Notas da Semana 16/05/2022

Metadados (ainda)

Pressão da CE sobre os Estados-Membros na transposição da directiva do copyright

Relatório da IFLA

Livros & Reviews

[paulasimoesblog.wordpress.co…](https://paulasimoesblog.wordpress.com/2022/05/20/notas … ⌘ Read more

Caro @govpt , e em particular @padaoesilva , agora que já temos um “novo prazo” (e já só temos 2 meses), já podemos ter aquela tal consulta pública à proposta sobre a transposição da directiva do copyright, que o governo (e bem) considerou necessária?
Caro @govpt , e em particular @padaoesilva , agora que já temos um “novo prazo” (e já só temos 2 meses), já podemos ter aquela tal consulta pública à prop … ⌘ Read more

RT by @mind_booster: Fun conversation with @creativecommons about our All The Music project, #copyright building blocks, #music, #creativity, #melodies, @GeorgeHarrison, @katyperry, @ledzeppelin, @edsheeran, and how all musicians stand on the shoulders of prior musical giants.
https://anchor.fm/creativecommons/episodes/Damien-Riehl–Noah-Rubin-of-All-The-Music-e1i2d86
Fun conversation with @creativecommons about our All The Music project, [#copyright]( … ⌘ Read more

RT by @mind_booster: Copyright is more often a bump in the road than a true enabler of creativity, leading to chilling effects - @glynmoody https://walledculture.org/ed-sheeran-wins-copyright-lawsuit-but-now-films-himself-as-he-writes-songs-to-forestall-more-litigation #copyright #creators href=”https://we.loveprivacy.club/search?q=%23CopyrightAbsurdity”>#CopyrightAbsurdity**
Copyright is more often a bump in the road than a true enabler of creativity, leading to chilling effects - @glynmoody [walledculture.org/ed-sheeran…](http … ⌘ Read more

On the blog: Copyright Searches https://john.colagioia.net/blog/2020/07/19/pdomain.html #copyright #publicdomain