Creative Work, Copyright, And Generative AI: Then And Now

The video of what sounded like Eminem's voice rapping over a Future Rave song was put up on the DJ David Guetta's Instagram in February 2023 and sent sparks flying across the globe on a debate of innovation, of originality and copyright. But that voice was not that of Eminem; it was an AI mechanism taught to sound very much like him. He used two generative AI websites, one to clone the voice and the other to write lyrics in the style of Eminem. So while the whole setup fascinated an audience, it posed questions far graver such as the limits of copyright law in a digital economy and altered state of creation.

Thus, the incidence marks what we consider to be a shift with great consequences in our paradigm of artistic creativity; it goes further than a comical headline. Long-held legal and philosophical presumptions of originality, authorship, and ownership are being called into question, at an increasing rate, by newly available technological advancements such as