For Conte, this legal “fair use” loophole is utter quackery.
“The AI companies are claiming fair use, but this argument is bogus,” Conte said during the conference. “It’s bogus because while they claim it’s fair to use the work of creators as training data, they do multimillion-dollar deals with rights holders and publishers like Disney, and Condé Nast, and Vox, and Warner Music.”
Conte pointed out the large licensing deals these AI companies have reached with intellectual property owners in recent years demonstrate the double standard of these companies. While AI companies recognize some copyrighted content requires permission and agreements, the same doesn’t seem to be true for creator-made content.
In the past several years, AI companies like OpenAI have made waves for the deals they have struck with some content owners while staving off lawsuits from others like the New York Times, which in 2023 accused OpenAI of training ChatGPT on millions of its articles without permission.
Conte mentioned these deals specifically to highlight the hypocrisy demonstrated by AI companies when deciding who gets a licensing agreement and who doesn’t. Smaller creators, he claims, are being left out.
A spokesperson for Patreon told Fortune Conte’s comments reflect the mix of excitement and concern the company has heard from creators on how their work is being used and valued in the age of AI.
“At Patreon, our focus is on ensuring creators can build sustainable businesses, and that includes advocating for a future where creators are recognized and compensated for the value they bring, even as technology evolves,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
While Conte said he was not against AI, generally, and noted that change is inevitable, humans will continue to enjoy human-created content long into the future, he said.
“Still, the AI companies should pay creators for our work, not because the tech is bad—but because a lot of it is good, or it will be soon — and it’s going to be the future. And when we plan for humanity’s future, we should plan for society’s artists, too, not just for their sake, but for the sake of all of us. Societies that value and incentivize creativity are better for it,” he said.
March 19: This article has been updated to include comments from a Patreon spokesperson
