“Our case is completely different from the AI image theft case;Little Red BookThe AI model library is infringing. "
Recently aboutAI PaintingThe infringement storm continues. In addition to the first-instance verdict of the case involving infringement of the copyright of AI painting images, a case involving infringement of AI model database has also been filed.
Recently, according to a report by Jiupai Finance, the case of copyright infringement between the artist "正版青团子" and Xiaohongshu has been filed in the Beijing Internet Court. At the same time, similar cases have been filed between three other artists and Xiaohongshu and its AI painting product Trik. It is reported that the four related cases are the first batch of infringement cases of AIGC training data sets.
As early as August this year, the painter "Shi Xueyuah" pointed out on the social platform that his original picture was plagiarized by Trik, an AI painting product under Xiaohongshu. Subsequently, three other painters publicly pointed out the same problem.
According to the Weibo of "正版青团子", "This is the domesticFirstThis time, AI painting stood in the dock. "
Why is the AI big model accused of infringement?
"Xiaohongshu has been sued!" On November 29, 2023, art blogger "CG Illustration Control" posted a Weibo saying, "Four creators have taken Xiaohongshu's parent company Xingyin Information Technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. and Xiaohongshu Trik software's parent company Ipsilon Information Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd. to court respectively." Subsequently, the Weibo was forwarded by the four creators involved.
Why did an AI painting product end up in the dock? To answer this question, let’s go back to August this year.
On August 1, the artist "Shi Xueyu" posted a Weibo post pointing out that Xiaohongshu's AI painting product Trik AI used his original pictures to feed AI. Simply put, AI products all need to use big data to train models, a process often referred to as "feeding".
According to the Weibo of "是雪鱼啊", "In recent days, many people @ me saying that Xiaohongshu officials feed my pictures to their AI, and even directly use them as a template. As the original author, I can tell at a glance which parts of the so-called original works generated by AI are copied from which elements of which works of mine...Trik AI, can you explain why the pictures made by your app are so similar to my original pictures of the same "Kuafu Chasing the Sun"? What's the difference between this and splitting and reassembling? I believe that anyone with eyes can tell whether your AI is learning or piecing together corpses."
According to public information, Trik AI's official introduction is "AI image creation tool", and most of the works posted on its previous official Xiaohongshu account are marked with "Xiaohongshu AI". However, Zinc Scale found that the account can no longer be searched on Xiaohongshu.
What is the specific relationship between Trik AI and Xiaohongshu? According to 36Kr's previous report, Xiaohongshu has been preparing an independent large model team since March. The core employees are from the NLP technical team of the advertising business. There are also multiple independent departments inside that are promoting the implementation of AIGC (AI content production). In April this year, Xiaohongshu launched Trik AI, an AI painting application focusing on Chinese style.
After "是雪鱼啊" posted on Weibo, painters "画画的云淡风清", "正版青团子" and "RedMatcha" also posted on Weibo one after another pointing out that their original pictures were merged and refined by Trik AI, and attached comparison photos of related works.
Among them, "画画的云淡风轻" said, "I found that more than one of my pictures was melted. Can the pictures posted by the artist on Xiaohongshu be melted at will?" And "正版青团子" mentioned, "My friend told me that Xiaohongshu's AI fed me pictures and copied my works. I looked at them and found that many pictures were very similar to my pictures in terms of color matching elements and picture style. I felt that my hard work was plagiarized."
Almost four months later, the incident has seen new progress. Zinc Scale noticed that in addition to the official account previously registered on Xiaohongshu being suspected of being cancelled, the Trik AI product can no longer be searched in major app stores.
This may be related to the public opinion storm in August. According to a previous report by "Qiupai", after the August storm, the original artists who were infringed posted notices on Xiaohongshu to stop updating their works or transfer them. Many users also spontaneously used the "No AI" icon as their avatar to express their anger at AI infringement. Some even proposed an "anti-AI" plan. Under the AI works posted by Trik AI's official Xiaohongshu account, the comment area was also filled with a large number of users who boycotted AI.
Feeding AI is a difficult problem
With the widespread application and development of AI technology, many large-scale model products in China have now launched the Wenshengtu function. Regarding the copyright and authorship issues that may be caused by AI Wenshengtu, Lu Qinglin, head of the Wenshengtu technology of Tencent Hunyuan Large Model, once told the media that on the one hand, the training data needs to be well controlled, including public data sets and purchased data sets. Tencent has spent a certain amount of money to ensure copyright issues and avoid sensitive data.
"The principle of AI-generated images is that AI learns the relationship between language description and artistic images from the data corresponding to massive images and texts. AI starts from a random starting point and continuously corrects the paintings, eventually forming a finished product that is highly consistent with human experience and knowledge in terms of aesthetics. From the above principle, we can see thatup to dateThe AI-generated images are not a patchwork of existing images, but a "re-creation" similar to that of humans after long-term painting training. "The relevant person in charge of Baidu Wenxin Yige also told Zinc Scale that Baidu attaches great importance to the copyright of images. If the generated images released by the platform in the future infringe the rights of the original author, we will provide a complaint feedback channel to provide rights relief channels for relevant rights holders and handle it quickly.
But for now, most companies still face relevant risks.
"At present, AI is still mainly fed by people. To avoid infringement risks, companies and specific review positions or labeling positions need to filter and screen data sources." Qi Yu is an algorithm engineer at a leading domestic technology company. He told Zinc Scale, "In fact, the supervision is not in place now. Most companies use whatever they can find on the Internet, regardless of whether it infringes or not."
This means that many platforms put a large number of artists' works into their databases without authorization for AI learning. For this reason, using the works of original authors to train large AI models once caused controversy.
In August of this year, the illustration on the opening screen of Bilibili was also accused of using AI to plagiarize the work of an artist.
At that time, netizens suspected that the promotional image of the "Chinese Valentine's Day Night" event updated on the homepage of Bilibili was produced by AI, and it also integrated the work of another original artist, and even left details: thread-drawn sleeves, sunken hands, and only half of the shoes. The illustrator "MoonYUE Sailor Yue" said on Weibo at the time, "The picture I drew for the company project was copied... You should at least change it." Under the Weibo post, many netizens commented, "So AI is just cutting out pictures everywhere, right?"
In March 2023, NetEase's LOFTER AI painting function was also questioned for using user works for AI training, causing many original painters to flee to other platforms. Subsequently, LOFTER removed the relevant products and issued an official apology letter.
Earlier, in November 2022, illustrator Luo Qi also questioned the plagiarism of the two-dimensional AI painting application Niji·journey on Weibo. At that time, "Luo Qi" pointed out that many picture styles generated by the AI painting software Nijijourney were highly similar to the works of some painters, and some pictures were directly signed and watermarked by these painters. She called on "all teachers to pay attention to AI."
The artist "正版青团子"'s Weibo
"I believe this case will also serve as a reference for future AI painting infringement cases." As "Genuine Green Tuanzi" said, although there are frequent doubts, the copyright issues of AI painting are still in a gray area. "I know that there are painters who have been infringed by AI but they dare not sue because there are no domestic rights protection cases... If we win, then the industry will have a rights protection case in the future, which will be beneficial to all original creators. If we lose, at least we know the domestic attitude and standards towards AI."
So, what will be the final outcome of this case?