Jack Dorsey, Elon Musk call to eliminate IP laws in the AI era

As artists fight to protect their works from being used to train AI models, Jack Dorsey, the cofounder of X (then Twitter) and Block (then Square) wants to eliminate intellectual property (IP) laws altogether, to which even Elon Musk agrees.

On Friday, the cofounder of X (then Twitter) and Block (then Square) posted on X, "delete all IP law." Elon Musk, the current leader of X, chimed in to comment, "I agree."

These two statements could have big implications for the future of intellectual property in the AI era. Their words underscore a common belief amongst tech entrepreneurs that copyright laws need to evolve to account for the potential of generative AI.  

AI IP theft?

Both OpenAI and Google have already openly lobbied the U.S. government to allow AI models to train on protected works such as movies, articles, and music.

But to many artists and advocacy groups, any call to "delete all IP laws" sounds like a direct attack on their rights. These artists argue that AI companies are both profiting from and competing with their work, in violation of existing copyright laws.

Over 50,000 artists including Thom Yorke, James Patterson, and Julianne Moore recently signed an open letter, which stated, "the unlicensed use of creative works for training generative AI is a major, unjust threat to the livelihoods of the people behind those works, and must not be permitted.”