The contribution starts from the observation that generative AI imitates human communication and thus becomes a direct competing product for authors, artists, media professionals and cultural professionals. Translations, images and information can already be produced by machines on a large scale; fiction, poetry, journalism, scholarship and music are affected at different speeds.
The presentation is divided into three parts. First, it is shown that AI systems depend on human creations and services. Without texts, images, sounds and audiovisual content from human production, there would be no usable training and comparison bases for generative systems. Second, practical guidance for one’s own creative work with AI follows. Third, copyright policy solutions are outlined that are relevant for an upcoming revision of the law.
For creative work, the contribution recommends a conscious approach to AI. Third-party forms of expression can be protected by copyright, but ideas, information, inspiration and styles are in principle free. Anyone who uses AI should therefore document sources, work stages and their own contributions. For larger works – such as book projects, research or academic work – the creation process should be traceable.
At this point, the presentation builds a bridge to MyCopyright. ProLitteris offers a digital deposit service with which files can be sealed and deposited. This safeguarding is not a prerequisite for royalties, but it can help to document the timing of concepts, sketches, drafts and versions. At a later stage, it should also become possible to add explanations as to which versions and elements of a work were created by humans.
In copyright policy, the principle of participation is increasingly moving into the center. The years of unauthorized extraction of creative value by AI models and systems are leaving their mark. When AI models are trained with works protected by copyright, when tools access such material or when organizations use protected content in prompts and data sources, authors, artists, publishing houses and other rightsholders should participate in the value creation. Collective management can provide legal certainty, consistency and fair royalty systems for this purpose.
What is the role of collective management organizations? A concise statement on this is: «Collective management organizations form the bridge between the creation of works and the creation of value».
The written presentation by Philip Kübler is available as a PDF (German, with translation into French, Italian and English).