The Generative Aspect of A.I. Isn't The Problem... It's The Theft

Since the plagiarism software is still in the headlines (and many tech bros and corporations have attempted to force it to do jobs that it is objectively not capable of doing), I wanted to take this week's update to discuss something that I feel gets either overlooked in a lot of these discussions, or which some people are simply misunderstanding. However, it is not the "generative" part of these programs that's the issue; we've had the ability to do that for years. The problem is the theft, and the absolute lack of morals regarding what these programs are trained on in order to spit out their results.

Moral? Sorry, I thought you said MONEY, that's what I care about.

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It's Not What You Make, It's How You Learned To Make It

I first touched on this topic back in A.I. Started With Artists, But It's Coming For Authors, and there are some points I'd like to reiterate from that post. First and foremost, these programs are not intelligence, artificial or otherwise. They're just pattern-recognition software that sucks up data, and spits it back out at you. They're mimics that, more often than not, we anthropomorphisize so that we think they're smarter than they are. To reiterate, this is not a Terminator-style apocalypse; we are dealing with parrot programs that can do nothing except spit out various combinations of what's been put into them.

Which brings us to the second point. The reason people hate these programs is not because they're so much better than creators of all stripes. It's not because they, "allow anyone to make art/write a book," as so many out there claim when they get hate for using these programs. It's because they were fed stolen work to use as the basis for all of their creations. They are, quite literally, the product of theft. It's one of the main reasons the U.S. Copyright Office ruled that A.I. art cannot be copywritten.

Share these? With you? Why would I do that?

There are, for example, programs out there that don't use stolen material to train on, but which still generate results that can be used from what's in their database. For example, I recently talked about The Medieval Fantasy City Generator by Watabou, which is something that I've used for my Sundara: Dawn of a New Age TTRPG setting. I've generated dozens of maps of fantasy cities and towns using the push of a button, and then once I have a map I can fill in the details myself, and breathe life into the project. There have been generators for character names, random writing prompts, and more available for decades, and there are a lot of writers who've made use of those.

The generative aspect of these programs isn't the problem. If you were to take a generator and train it on public domain works like H.P. Lovecraft stories, the works of Edgar Allan Poe, or even paintings from Renaissance masters, no one would have a problem with that. Whether you used the results of these programs as inspiration for your own stories, or just to create cool cover art, you wouldn't be stealing work from anyone. You couldn't copyright anything created with the program, either, but if you're just using it for inspiration (or you don't care about making money) then that wouldn't be an issue.

But that's not how these programs are being used. Instead, businesses and corporations are stealing the work already created by artists, and they're being used to try to rip off those artists, authors, screen writers, etc. A classic example is Jane Friedman, who had to fight Amazon to have books with her name on them that were written by A.I. removed. Because if a business can pay nothing to get the material they're selling, and then make pure profit off of it, they're going to do that. Period. End of story.

So if you're wondering why so many creatives are angry at the proliferation of so-called A.I. programs, examine the source material that they're trained on. Because there are dozens upon dozens of prompts, machines, and engines that can spit out everything from fantasy cities to story prompts, but those which don't use material that was stolen from creatives don't generate any outrage.

When you're taking sides on an issue like this, look at who's on which side of the line. Then ask yourself if tech bros and corporations have ever been the good guys when it comes to situations like this.

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That's all for this week's Business of Writing! For more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, or at My Amazon Author Page where you can find books like my sci-fi dystopian thriller Old Soldiers, the Hardboiled Cat series about a mystery solving Maine Coon in Marked Territory and Painted Cats, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife, or my most recent short story collection The Rejects!

 

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The Advantages of Public Domain Settings and Community Content Programs

Intellectual property refers to creations of the mind, while a copyright is the exclusive legal right to reproduce, publish, sell and distribute something. And if there's anything authors out there know, it's that they hold the copyright to anything they create on their own, and it is considered their intellectual property. You can't just use someone else's intellectual property, put it out there, and charge money for it... that's how you get sued.

It's the main reason you can't just write and sell a Star Wars novel without permission from Disney, or draw and sell your own comics where the Hulk competes in a chess competition against the Leader. Because unless those who hold the copyright give you permission, you're not allowed to make a profit off their intellectual property.

It's complicated, but those are the broad strokes.

There are gray areas and exceptions, as there always are, but it's the reason so many authors are concerned with writing original works. Because as long as the thing you are making is unique to you, it is your intellectual property, and no one else can use or publish it without your permission.

However, I'll be the first to tell you that trying to establish your own voice for your unique stories is far from an easy thing to do. Beyond just writing the story, editing it, finding the right cover art, etc., you need to convince people that your world is the one they should take a trip into. One thing I've learned trying to sell copies of my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife is that if there's one thing readers love even more than an exciting new world to explore, it's one they already know and love. So it's not just that you have to convince them to give your book a try, but that you need to convince them it will be at least as satisfying as a trip down a more comfortable, well-worn trail into a much-loved favorite read.

And that is a tough sale to make. Fortunately, it is possible for your work to occupy familiar ground that the reader already knows and likes, while also being a unique work of fiction in its own right.

Public Domain, and Community Content Programs

Public domain, in general, refers to works that are not protected by copyright law. This means you are free to publish and distribute them because they, in effect, belong to everyone.

Getting that brainstorm, now?

While you're not allowed to write an unauthorized account of what went on in Mordor, and you can't use Hogwarts as your setting, you can write a story that takes place in these public domain sandboxes. You can even put your own twist on things to make your book that much more interesting!

For instance, you could write a story about Dracula and his brides with a tone that's more like James Bond or Charlie's Angels, using the original source material to create a sexy, supernatural spy thriller that would turn its share of heads. If you wanted to adapt the original Phantom of The Opera (the one that appeared in the novel, not the changes and adaptations made by other writers and musicals), and turn him into the pupil of an aging Scarlet Pimpernel who gives Erik the mantle to go out and continue his work, that's also on the table. If you want to write a Sherlock Holmes mystery that is more like Remington Steele, when it's actually Watson who is the genius detective and Sherlock is an out-of-work actor he hired to act as his mouthpiece, there's nothing stopping you from doing that, either.

And it's not just older novels, either. Lots of companies have community content programs out there that let you write in their worlds.

I talked about this back in Community Content Programs For RPGs Are Another Avenue For Authors To Get Paid, but I'll go over the broad strokes once more. A community content program is when a company (usually an RPG publisher in my experience, but there may be others out there) allows creators to write stories and create products within their worlds and settings as long as they abide by the rules. These rules usually mean the work has to be published in a certain location, has to have marks that identify it, and it usually has to abide by setting canon. If you can do that, you're golden!

What does that mean in practical terms, though?

Well, let's say you're a fan of Vampire: The Masquerade, and you've always wanted to create fiction for it. You could write a novel set in that world, using the Storyteller's Vault. The same is true if you wanted to do a collection of Werewolf: The Apocalypse short stories where there's one story per tribe. Heck, I wrote an entire 100 Kinfolk series for werewolf in partnership with High Level Games just creating 1300+ characters to be used in this setting! And if you want to write a module that takes place in the Forgotten Realms? Well, the Dungeon Masters Guild allows you to publish that module using the setting, characters, and resources owned by Wizards of The Coast.

So What's The Advantage?

In all of these incidents, you are still telling a unique story all your own. However, it is part of an established canon that people are already familiar with, and which might poke them in their comfort zones as fans of a particular world, setting, or established characters.

Basically, you don't have to do the hard work of breaking new ground, and convincing readers that they should give it a try. You're already within an established thing they've heard of, and your premise alone might be enough to intrigue them. In this instance, it may be that much easier to clench the sale, because all you had to say was, "A graduate student at Arkham University is trying to help a Martian Thark get home using the ancient knowledge locked within the Necronomicon, but when it transports them both to Barsoom things soon get even weirder."

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That's all for this week's Business of Writing! If you'd like to see more of my work, take a look at my Vocal archive, or at My Amazon Author Page where you can find books like my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife as well as my recent collection The Rejects!

If you'd like to help support my work, then consider Buying Me A Ko-Fi, or heading over to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page! Lastly, to keep up with my latest, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now on Pinterest as well!

What Is Public Domain, and What Does It Mean For Your Novel?

Two weeks ago I wrote a post titled Copyright Myths Authors Should Know About, and given how popular that post was I thought I'd follow it up with a piece about public domain. I'll explain what public domain is, how it works, and why that novel you're working on either is or isn't fan fiction, depending on the copyright of the original work.

So let's get started, shall we?

What Is Public Domain?

Public domain is a legal term used to describe a creative work (book, film, song, etc.) whose copyright either expired or never existed in the first place, thus making it something everyone can use. As a quick for instance the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker never had an American copyright, so the novel can be printed and distributed by any company looking to make a profit. If you want to make a movie based only off of Bram Stoker's novel, or write a story using those characters, then you my friend are good to go because there is no copyright for you to infringe on. You can get more about public domain's legal definition here at Wisegeek.

Public domain is what you get when you pull copyright's teeth.

How Do I Know If Something Is Public Domain?

Figuring out whether something is or isn't in the public domain can be difficult. Fortunately there's a handy list at Teaching Copyright which will show you how to identify whether something has lapsed into the public domain. As a general rule of thumb anything that's common knowledge (names, dates, and other facts), titles, common symbols, and everything published in the United States before 1923 are all public domain works. That includes classics like The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, The Three Musketeers, The Invisible Man, Frankenstein, and thousands of others.

Sounds legit.

Before you decide to just start using a work because it's old though you need to check to be sure it's actually lapsed into the public domain. While you won't catch any flak for writing a high fantasy version of the Iliad, characters like The Shadow might still be owned by someone.

Why Use Public Domain Works?

One of the big questions people have when it comes to public domain works, settings, and characters is why would you use them? After all shouldn't you try to create something truly unique, and stand on your own two feet as an artist?

Clearly this mysterious questioner is unaware of the pull of fan fiction.

'Nuff said.

People like what's familiar, and as evidenced by Hollywood re-imaginings and re-boots are popular as hell. They also have a long and storied tradition, particularly during the pulp fiction era when multiple writers would use ideas and mention items from other stories. This created a weird, shared-author canon that led to creations like the Cthulhu Mythos which was begun by H.P. Lovecraft, but contributed to by his contemporaries in their own stories.

In some cases public domain works allow you to use an established world to tell a new story. Whether it's the deserts of Barsoom or the darkened streets of Arkham, Massachusetts there's a huge amount of world-building done for you. The rules of the cosmos, the politics of the land, even the timeline is set for you. Not only that but there's a built-in fan base. If you say the word "Cthulhu" people will immediately zero in on you and give you a chance to throw out your line. If you tell someone you're writing faithful cases for Holmes and Watson then there is going to be an interest even if you don't have Benedict Cumberbatch signed on with your project.

Public domain worlds and characters are some of the most often told stories we have. While you might not become the next bestseller writing a story about how Frankenstein's monster and Edward Hyde had to team up to fight a legion of resurrected corpses possessed by demons and led by Jack the Ripper I guarantee you that book will turn a few heads. Before you get started though make sure that the characters as well as the work are public domain. Some of Bugs Bunny's earliest appearances are public domain for instance, but Bugs himself is a trademarked character which means that despite a few episodes of his antics being free for all he himself remains off limits.

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Copyright Myths Authors Should Know About

Authors are no strangers to bullshit. We listen to book reviewers, we have agents, we troll forums; we are constantly immersed in a world of people who think they know what they're talking about. Sometimes this can be helpful, like when we meet other authors with more experience, or when we chat with representatives or publishers. A lot of the time though we meet people who are spouting absolute tripe they heard from their second cousin who's writing a slash fiction of John Carter and Tars Tarkas. Sometimes it's hard to tell the difference, which is why this week the Literary Mercenary is talking about copyright.

What Is It?

Before we get into too many details let's talk about what a copyright actually is. According to the U.S. Copyright Office copyright is a legal right for someone to make copies of, sell, and otherwise exploit a literary, musical, or other creative work. A copyright is good for the life of the author, and then for a period of 70 years after the author dies. If the work was anonymous then copyright lasts 95 years from the date of publication, or 120 years from the date of creation (whatever comes first).

The deaths of characters are inconsequential to the life of a copyright.

Those are the basics. Despite how simple copyright sounds though we get all kinds of confused about what actually comes after. It's why we have myths like...

If You Don't Register It Then People Will Steal Your Idea!

I don't know how many paranoid scribblers I've met who won't tell anyone what their books are about, and who have fits at the very idea that someone might read it before it's published. They mail copies of their stories to themselves, and tell you that until you register your work with the U.S. copyright office that it isn't copyrighted and anyone can steal it.

This is a 10-pound tub of bullshit.

I should know... I filled it!

Every work you create has a copyright from the moment it's created according to this. Remember that the next time someone offers to "help you out" by charging a "nominal fee" to get your work copyrighted.

I'm Not Infringing The Copyright Because I Spelled It Different!

I hate to be the one to tell you this, but you are.

We're not talking about public domain works; that's a whole different kettle of fish. What we're talking about is taking a popular work that is copyrighted (say Twilight for instance) and then writing your own strange, twisted sex fantasy using the same world and the same characters. That's derivative fiction, and it requires the copyright holder to give you the okay to do it. You can't just publish that work and claim that it doesn't violate the initial author's copyright.

*coughs uncomfortably*

There are all sorts of derivative works on the market. That said, no, someone can't just copy your work, switch around the I and the E in your lead's name, and then just claim that their book is different. That goes both ways.

But Fair Use!

For those of you not familiar with fair use it's a legal idea that says in certain, narrow circumstances you can reproduce a copyrighted work without violating the copyright, or having to pay a fee in order to do so. If you're reviewing the item in question, using it for scholarly research or using it in the classroom then generally speaking your intent falls under fair use. The same goes for parodies and other forms of commentary more often than not.

That's why no one sues this guy when he writes songs more popular than the ones they're based on.

Fair use is very, very limited though. You can't lift whole chapters, paragraphs, or even lines from poems or songs without running into the question of how much is too much for fair use. More often than not fair use won't protect you if you're making money off of someone else's material in some way, shape, or form (see the above caption for one of the only exceptions to this rule).

I Can't Put My Story Online, I'll Lose My Copyright!

No, you won't.

There's this weird idea that persists among people that if you found it online then it's public domain. If there's no little "c" symbol then the work isn't copyrighted and you're free to take and use it. If someone is offering you a free download or a file transfer then it's totally cool. No, it isn't; it's piracy, and you can be sued for it.

I feel a "but" coming on...

There are buts, and all authors should be aware of them. First of all you can sign away your copyright. For instance, say that you took a job from Tor to write a short story for an anthology. Part of this contract is that you will be paid $400 for the short, but all of the rights concerning it no longer belong to you as the creator. This is one of the only ways you can lose your copyright; because you sold it as stipulated in a contract. "Work For Hire" is the phrase to look out for with this one.

The other issue involves publishing rights, which is different from copyright and often a source of confusion. Say you get a contract from Random House for a novel you've posted online (maybe you wrote it for NaNoWriMo or something, I don't know). RH might want exclusive worldwide print rights (meaning no other company can make print copies). They might also want exclusive, first-run digital rights... which might be an issue if it's been sitting up on the Internet for the world to see. On the one hand no, you have not given away your copyright. But what you have done is published it in a medium, which means that you can't give someone else the right to be first. That's the trade off; if you do publish your work in any way (self, small, or big name) then you've used some rights to that work.

That's it for this week's entry, though feel free to comment if you have questions or want to see other topics covered in the next Business of Writing entry I do. If you'd like to support this blog then stop by The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page and consider becoming a patron today! If you want to keep up on all the latest and greatest for my updates then make sure you're following me on Facebook and Tumblr as well!