238 | 👯Use your Zoom digital twin for your next meeting

In today’s Brainyacts:

1. Authorship in the GenAI Era

2. Tesla’s AI Bonanza

3. Send your Zoom digital twin to meetings and other AI model news

4. AI adoption by lawyers jumps to 79% and more news you can use

   👋 to all subscribers!

To read previous editions, click here.

Lead Memo

As AI tools become more integrated into our enterprises and firms as well as our clients’ businesses, questions around ownership, authorship, and copyright of AI-generated content are no longer theoretical—they’re critical issues that legal professionals need to understand.

In the following article, one of my students, Jason Gray, explores this question by conducting an intriguing experiment with generative AI and Elon Musk’s tweets. The results will challenge your assumptions about creativity, effort, and intellectual property in the age of AI. As lawyers increasingly leverage these technologies in their companies and firms, understanding these concepts is essential. Dive into this experiment to see how the boundaries of authorship and ownership are being redefined—and why it matters to your business.

🤯✍️ What is “Authorship” in the GenAI Era?

Have you ever wondered what happens when you feed over 12,000 tweets into a custom GPT and ask it to draw what it’s thinking? I did just that, and the images that emerged didn't just surprise me—they offer a glimpse into the future of how authorship, creativity, and copyright might be reimaged in the age of Generative AI.

The Experiment

1. I found a dataset with all of Elon Musk’s tweets from 2010–2021, and converted it into a text file that ChatGPT could process.

2. I uploaded that file to create a custom GPT (“Explore GPTs,” “Create”)

3. I instructed ChatGPT to “make a GPT based on the tweets provided in the file I sent to you.  Each new line is a new tweet.” 

4. I deferred to ChatGPT’s “judgment” on all follow-up questions, including the name of the GPT.  

ChatGPT generated its own instructions:

When asked to “draw a picture of what you’re thinking about,” ChatGPT provided this:

I again asked it to draw a picture of what it was thinking about, and received this as well as an unprompted message following it:

And when asked what prompt it used to create the first image, it said:

Why do this?

In a recent class, we discussed the copyright issues surrounding AI-generated images and who should hold the rights to them.  Most of the class believed that Dall-E was analogous to a paintbrush, with the artist directing the creation.  Two years ago, Jason Allen won a local art contest with an AI generated image that took him over 600 prompts and 80 hours to achieve.  How different is that from spending 80 hours painting digitally with tools that augment the artist’s abilities?

I wondered how perspectives might change if someone else’s work was used to generate the image.  I detailed my process above so you could see how little input I had in creating these two images.  

• Musk authored those 12,563 tweets.  

• ChatGPT “read” 12,563 tweets, produced its own instructions based on them, and generated images accordingly. 

• I had an idea and 5 minutes of free time.

While the United States does not currently recognize copyrights for AI generated art, the question is whose image should this be?  

Curatorial Authorship

The art-world has a theory of curatorial authorship.  The curator of a gallery selects artwork, crafting an exhibition that offers new perspectives without altering the original pieces. According to Dr. Dorothee Richter’s work on the evolving role of curators, the creativity and originality in the selection process is seen as an artistic endeavor in itself, not just the amalgamation of collected art. Let’s examine both OpenAI and myself as the curator.

User as the Curator

If we view the creation of the art as a thought experiment and the foundation of this article, my role is strongly analogous to that of a curator. Like a curator selecting and arranging artwork to convey his message, I curated the data and the AI’s capabilities to produce something novel. While minimal time went into generating the art, considerable effort went into preparing the gallery for your enjoyment. The art isn’t merely an image accompanying an article, it is the core of the narrative – the art is the story.

AI as the Curator

Alternatively, one could argue that ChatGPT and DALL·E acted as the curators. ChatGPT processed over 12,000 tweets and transformed them into a visual representation of their collective essence, effectively curating a single image. Since I provided no guidance to ChatGPT, it independently generated the system prompt for my custom GPT, then crafted the prompt it gave to Dall-E. ChatGPT and Dall-E had all the control over what it believes the sum of Musk’s tweets are. 

If OpenAI did not disclaim their rights to outputs, would they have an authorship claim as the curator of the image? Or is the AI simply a sophisticated paintbrush with programmed randomness?

Musk as the Owner

In traditional galleries, artists retain the rights to their artwork. Applying that concept here begs the question–should Musk own the image or have an interest in it?  The dataset contained 12,563 of his tweets. 

• Musk’s tweets represent years of his thoughts and communications, essentially his carefully crafted digital persona. 

• The AI-generated images could be seen as derivative works, given that his tweets were >99.9% of the input.

• Similarly, if you view a prompt as source code, Musk’s tweets were 99.9% of the source code and I provided <0.1%.

By using Musk’s extensive history of tweets, did I create a digital self-portrait of his communications? If I did, how could a self-portrait not be considered his work?

Effort and Originality

In today’s ever-changing landscape, how should effort and originality be balanced? In the past, artists needed to be both skilled in their use of the paintbrush, as well as being incredibly creative. Traditionally, significant effort in creating a work had been associated with stronger claims to authorship, but the Supreme Court overruled the “sweat of the brow” doctrine in 1991, in favor of originality and creativity. 

Putting the law aside, how do you define effort?

• Is effort quantitative or qualitative? Is effort measured by time spent, or the quality of the work? Can we apply the motto “work smarter, not harder?”

• In a world of AI-generated images, should originality outweigh effort? Is an image inherently less valuable because the artist used photoshop and a drawing tablet instead of canvas and oil paints?

• Should the time spent acquiring the knowledge required to execute an idea be considered effort?

I believe this experiment was an original idea. However, two weeks ago I had never heard of curatorial authorship or Dr. Richter. I likely wouldn’t have discovered this concept while researching copyright law or theory. In fact, it was ChatGPT that introduced me to the idea of curatorial authorship when I prompted it for creative arguments around the ownership of the generated image.  

So, after all this, was it really my creativity–or was it ChatGPT’s “creativity” that spawned this article? 

Spotlight

👀 🔮 Tesla’s AI Bonanza

Tesla has unveiled the Cybercab, a new electric vehicle dedicated to self-driving that lacks a steering wheel or pedals.

Priced at under $30,000, this vehicle is designed without a steering wheel or pedals and features two distinctive gull-wing doors

The operating cost is projected to be approximately 20 cents per mile, making it a cost-effective option for users

It supports “inductive charging,” eliminating the need for traditional plug-in methods

Tesla owners will have the opportunity to list their vehicles as robotaxis, providing an innovative way to generate income.

Additionally, Tesla unveiled more surprises:

The Robovan, featuring a sleek design and self-driving capabilities, capable of transporting up to 20 passengers or a large cargo.

Musk also showed off Optimus personal assistant robots, which he claims can mow lawns, fetch groceries, and babysit, estimating their cost to be between $28k and $30k.

When is the Cybercab expected? By 2027

Musk announced that production might start as early as 2026. You can watch the full event from here.

AI Model Notables

► Zoom launches AI platform features including an upgraded chatbot assistant. Zoom will also let AI avatars talk to your team for you (just think of the potential liabilities!!!).

► OpenAI has partnered with Hearst to integrate content from publications like Cosmopolitan, Elle, and the San Francisco Chronicle into its tools.

► EvenUp, an AI startup that helps lawyers streamline tasks such as drafting and reviewing documents, was valued at over $1 billion on Tuesday, after it raised $135 million in a funding round led by Bain Capital Ventures.

► Adobe announced its Content Credentials web app. It claims to help you protect their work and control its use in AI training.

► Walmart unveils Wallaby, a suite of retail-focused AI models trained on its "decades" of data to understand and respond naturally to employees and customers.

► Tesla expected to add Voice Assistant as Musk says Grok AI is coming.

• Will be integrated into Tesla vehicles, promising smarter interactions and better voice recognition.

• The upgrade includes new features like traffic light countdowns, and improving navigation in real-time.

News You Can Use:

➭ AI predicted to fuel mass litigation against companies.

➭ AI adoption by legal professionals jumps from 19% to 79% in one year, Clio study finds

➭ The Biggest Disruption to IP since Disney? With over 100 historic trademark victories, Elf Labs owns rights to some of the highest-grossing characters in history, including Cinderella, Snow White, Little Mermaid, and more. Now, Elf Labs is revolutionizing these characters with patented next-gen technology, including AR, VR and advanced compression algorithms for an unprecedented level of immersion.

➭ Wimbledon will replace line judges with artificial intelligence-powered line calling starting in 2025.

➭ A new study finds that Americans are adopting generative AI faster than personal computers and the internet, potentially boosting productivity growth.

➭ Microsoft will buy OpenAI within three years, analyst predicts

Who is the author, Josh Kubicki?

Some of you know me. Others do not. Here is a short intro. I am a lawyer, entrepreneur, and teacher. I have transformed legal practices and built multi-million dollar businesses. Not a theorist, I am an applied researcher and former Chief Strategy Officer, recognized by Fast Company and Bloomberg Law for my unique work. Through this newsletter, I offer you pragmatic insights into leveraging AI to inform and improve your daily life in legal services.