Free Resources to Help Us Decide on Using AI Output for Commercial Purposes
Available Ways to Check Generative Artificial Intelligence Output
Previously, we talked about the AI Expo in Washington DC and the USPTO chat on artificial intelligence (AI) that I attended. If you haven’t read them, please click on the links for they pointed out the need for due diligence especially when using generative AI outputs for commercial purposes. Given the state of AI and the evolving government policies, how do we decide when and when not to use generative AI output for commercial purposes? Let’s zoom in.
Commercial Use
What is commercial use? Simply put, it is using content (text, images, video, etc.) for business or financial gain. Lawyer Rae Marie Manar wrote more about it about in Copyrighted. All in all, if someone owns an intellectual property, you need permission to use it commercially. But what about AI generated content?
Check it With Free Resources
We must do what we can to make sure the AI-generated content is not based on something someone else owns. Afterwards, we can decide for ourselves if we are comfortable to use it for commercial purposes. If you are unsure, it is better to ask for professional legal advice. But if you want to check it yourself first, here are the free resources I use:
Use the USPTO Trademark Search Database
Upload a portion of the AI text you generated to Google (or other search engine) and see if it leads you to a similar text
Google Image Search - upload the AI Image then see if a similar image appears
Actually, it is not enough to check only WHAT AI generated. You must also check the terms of the app you used to generate it. For example, if you used Canva to generate an AI image, you need to check its terms for commercial use. I’ll discuss more about this in the next post. In the meantime, let us pursue being good stewards of the resources God has blessed us with including AI.