Structural omission of sources

The text generated by a language model structurally omits its sources, making the output unusable in any context that requires respect for legality and informational transparency. It can serve, at most, as a personal research aid for gathering and analysing material and only with the awareness that a substantial portion of that material is protected by copyright. The legal responsibilities arising from this rest primarily with the companies providing these services, which have trained their models on third-party works without the necessary authorisation.

Intellectual property

The reworking, let alone the composition, of an intellectual work by a language model implies the multiplication, and consequent loss of exclusivity, of intellectual property. Strictly speaking, an article or essay produced with the aid of these tools should no longer be signed by its author: exclusive intellectual property over the work is thereby compromised in an irreversible way. Most information outlets have not yet formalised this principle, but that does not mean it does not exist, nor that it need not be respected.

A regulatory grey area

Companies promoting the mass adoption of these tools do not publicly raise these issues, as doing so would be against their interest. Governments and citizens, on the other hand, should not consider themselves exempt from respecting these principles even in the absence of codified norms. We hope such codification is inevitable.

We find ourselves in a grey area in the twilight or the dawn of a new regulatory era that may last for years. It is understandable that opaque practices have taken hold in this context; it is not, however, obligatory to adopt them, nor is it impossible to identify principles already consistent with the history and logic of law.

Our choice

For the reasons set out above, Kargi Mokalake has chosen not to use artificial intelligence tools for the drafting or reworking of its content. Every article published is the product of the intellectual work of its authors, who retain full authorship over it.