Salvaggio’s piece is also relevant for another reason. In his analysis of the impact of generative AI on creativity, he quickly focuses on the field of free culture enabled by Creative Commons licenses. Salvaggio makes a crucial observation that: Copyright is insufficient to understand these issues. We also need to consider the role of data rights: the protections we offer to people who share information and artistic expression online.
In our AI_Commons work, we reached similar conclusions – although, in that case, our focus was on photographs seen not just as creative works but also as content that expresses personal data about a person. Salvaggio rightly notes a tension between stewarding the commons that can be accessed and reused and ensuring data rights – as this quickly leads to limiting access.
