The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently hosted a virtual roundtable discussion on the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on creators and the creative fields. The event featured remarks by FTC Chair Khan and FTC Commissioner Slaughter, followed by a roundtable discussion with more than a dozen participants from a variety of creative fields, including music, filmmaking, and visual arts.

The participants discussed a wide range of topics, including:

• The significant benefits and risks of using AI tools in the creative fields.
• The impact of AI on the creative process.
• The importance of copyright and intellectual property rights with respect to content creation. 
• The role of the FTC in protecting creators and consumers. 

One unexpected aspect of the roundtable was the decision of Bradley Kuhn, a policy fellow at the Software Freedom Conservancy, who chose not to appear by video because “[a]s a matter of principle” the platform being used required users to consent for the use of their user data as training input for machine learning systems.  His message to others was direct: “If consumers take anything away from my comments today, I hope they remember to carefully read the terms and conditions of all software platforms they use, as they may have already agreed for their own creative works to become part of the company's machine learning data sets.” 

Kuhn’s comments are a reminder to users of software and services that when they agree to terms of use, they may be allowing their data and creative content to be used in ways that they may not realize. 

The transcript of the roundtable is accessible here:  https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/ftc_gov/pdf/creative-economy-and-generative-ai-transcript-october-4-2023.pdf