Artificial intelligence (AI) raises issues of copyright and plagiarism in artwork and writing. 

A simple Google search tells us that AI uses a large amount of data and information to understand patterns to create something similar. This means that AI cannot make or create something out of nothing; instead, it takes little bits of data from the internet of things, among other technologies that support AI. This is where the question of whether or not AI will change the definition of copyright and plagiarism lies. AI art generators process human-made art and use it as data to develop new images.

The conversation around AI art is ongoing and complex. Art is a reflection of human achievement, history, and personal emotion. Can an AI replicate the same values we have for traditional art, and is it comparable to human-made art?  

From the years 2015 to 2019, the amount of companies that adopted AI has increased by 270 per cent, according to Oberlo. AI is a new and untapped market for potential business ideas. For example, artists could be hired to create artwork for AI generators or they could apply and let their art be used as data for AI generators for compensation.

AI has also raised concerns in the world of academics. AI scrapes a large amount of pre-existing text data to make essays, so using AI to do school assignments is considered plagiarism and cheating. Apps like AI Content Detector by Copyleaks can scan documents to see if a human wrote it, so AI writing is not fool-proof. Even though these kinds of websites are not accurate they most likely will be very soon. ChatGPT is also creating a tool to help teachers and professors detect the use of AI.

The fact is that AI is powerful and tough to control, especially in regards to cheating. as we look into the issue of cheating, AI is able to give “human-sounding answers”, so it is hard to know if a piece of writing is human-made or not.

Concerns around AI are valid: they are capable of creating visual and written art, able to assemble ideas in an essay, and pose a real threat to certain jobs. Companies and individuals can either use AI to replace certain tasks, or compliment them. AI tools are very new to us — the world is still looking for ways to integrate them into our lives, for better or for worse.