The Association of American Publishers is among those supporting a newly launched effort called Fairly Trained, a nonprofit organization that aims to “certify fair training data use” in generative AI.
“There is a divide emerging between two types of generative AI companies: those who get the consent of training data providers, and those who don’t, claiming they have no legal obligation to do so. We believe there are many consumers and companies who would prefer to work with generative AI companies who train on data provided with the consent of its creators,” a blog post on the group’s website states. “Fairly Trained exists to make it clear which companies take a more consent-based approach to training and are therefore treating creators more fairly.”
The nonprofit’s first certification is something it calls “Licensed Model certification,” which, the post explains, can be obtained for “any generative AI model that doesn’t use any copyrighted work without a license.” The licenses can be varied, the group says, but “will not be awarded to models that rely on a ‘fair use’ copyright exception or similar, which is an indicator that rights-holders haven’t given consent for their work to be used in training.”
The launch of Fairly Trained comes amid a spate of lawsuits filed by creators against AI companies—most notably Open AI and Meta—alleging that the major AI companies’ use of copyrighted works without permission or payment for AI training constitutes infringement. It also comes as a number of other organizations, including such media giants as the Associated Press and Axel Springer, have struck licensing deals with AI companies, with others, such as Reuters, reportedly involved in talks over the same.
Fairly Trained is launching with nine generative AI companies already certified, according to the post: Beatoven.AI, Boomy, BRIA AI, Endel, LifeScore, Rightsify, Somms.ai, Soundful, and Tuney. The group is led by “composer and technologist” Ed Newtwon-Rex, founder of jukedeck, “an AI music generation company that provided music for video, TV, radio, podcasts, and games.” According to his bio on the Fairly Trained site, jukedeck was acquired by TikTok owner ByteDance in 2019, and Newton-Rex “ran the European AI Lab and later led product in Europe for TikTok,” and most recently served as v-p of audio at Stability AI.
The group is also supported by a number of organizations, including the AAP, the Universal Music Group, the Association of Independent Music Publishers, music industry player Concord, and sound effects rights group Pro Sound Effects. An advisory committee includes AAP president and CEO Maria Pallante, as well as Tom Gruber, co-founder and CTO of the team that created Apple’s Siri; Elizabeth Moody, chair of new media at law firm Granderson Des Rochers; and musician Max Richter.
