The head of Microsoft AI, Mustafa Suleyman, believes that once something is published on the Internet, it immediately becomes free content that anyone can copy and use at their discretion. He expressed this viewpoint during a conversation with a representative of CNBC.
“I think for content that’s already on the open internet, the social contract for that content since the ’90s has been that it’s used fairly. Anyone can copy it, recreate it, play with it. This is ‘free use,’ if you like, that was the understanding,” Suleyman said during his discussion with the journalist.
Microsoft is currently facing multiple lawsuits alleging that the software giant and its support company OpenAI are illegally using copyrighted online content to train generative neural networks. Given this context, Suleyman’s statement appears quite logical, yet it was still unexpected that he spoke so openly on this issue. We’ll keep you updated as more information becomes available.
Legal Reality of Internet Content Use
However, the statement regarding the use of content found on the Internet is erroneous. In the United States, any work is automatically protected by copyright, and publishing such content on the Internet does not invalidate copyright, notes NIX Solutions. Fair use of content is not guaranteed by a “social contract” but is determined by the court. Legal protection is provided when a court decision permits the use of copyrighted content.
We’ll keep you updated on further developments regarding this topic.