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GitHub Copilot, with “public code” blocked, emits my copyrighted code

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Re: GitHub Copilot, with “public code” blocked, emits my copyrighted code

#291

Post by Aeolun »

bayindirh wrote: post #186
psychphysic wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree. Those are effectively cases of cryptomnesia[0]. Part and parcel of learning. If you don't want broad access your work, don't upload it to a public repository. It's very simple. Good on you for recognising that you don't agree with what GitHub looks at data in public repos, but it's not their problem. [0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptomnesia

> Those are effectively cases of cryptomnesia. Disagree, outputting training data as-is is not cryptomnesia. This is not Copilot's first case. It also reproduced ID software's fast inverse square root function as-is, including its comments, but without its license. > If you don't want broad access your work, don't upload it to a public repository. It's very simple. This is actually both funny and absurd. This is why…

> If all the licenses is moot, then this opens a very big can of worms

We are talking ‘de facto’ here, not ‘de jure’. It may be legally problematic, but anything made public once is never going back in the box.

Re: GitHub Copilot, with “public code” blocked, emits my copyrighted code

#292

Post by chlorion »

teaearlgraycold wrote: post #190
SrslyJosh wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This just means that if you use Copilot for work, you're exposing yourself and/or your employer to unknown legal liability. =)

Not sure how you’d get caught if your code is kept private.

If you are releasing binaries that are publicly accessible it is possible to get caught.

Statically linked binaries for example have parts of libraries embedded into them. There exists tools that can analyze the binary and try to detect signatures from a shared library in the binary.

In the past there were (and probably still are) companies who provided services to help with finding people who have linked in your code so you could take whatever action you wanted against them. I can't recall a specific company name right now but a little bit of Googling would likely bring up some examples.

Re: GitHub Copilot, with “public code” blocked, emits my copyrighted code

#294

Post by CapsAdmin »

sidewndr46 wrote: post #279
omnimus wrote: post #219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly to a programmer copilot is clear violation, to a writer gpt-3 is clear violation, to an artist dalle-2 is clear violation. The artist might love copilot, the writer might love dalle, the programmer might love gpt-3. Its all the same they just dont realize this.

Does dalle-2 verbatim reproduce artwork? I have never used it.

It's kind of like having millions of parameters you can tweak to get to an image. So an image does not really exist in the model.

I can imagine Mona Lisa in my head, but it doesn't really "exist" verbatim in my head. It's only an approximation.

I believe copilot works the same way (?)

Re: GitHub Copilot, with “public code” blocked, emits my copyrighted code

#295

Post by naikrovek »

ianbutler wrote: post #123
naikrovek wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

what proprietary code? the guy on Twitter is seeing his own GPL code bring reproduced. nothing proprietary there. do you have the "don't reproduce code verbatim" preference set?

Sorry it would likely be more correct to say "improperly licensed" code and not proprietary. Still for someone like me, the possibility of having LGPL, or any GPL licensed code generated in their project is a solid no thanks. I know others may think differently but those are toxic licenses to me. Not to mention this code wasn't public so it's kind of moot, having someone's private code be generated into my project is…

No post body was provided.

Re: GitHub Copilot, with “public code” blocked, emits my copyrighted code

#296

Post by williamcotton »

SrslyJosh wrote: post #230
williamcotton wrote: post #13

Is the code in question even covered by copyright in the first place? It seems utilitarian in nature. Oh, the comments! Those are covered by copyright for sure.

> It seems utilitarian in nature That has no bearing on copyright.

It absolutely does.

Here’s like the first link after a DuckDuckGo search for “copyright utilitarian”:

However, copyright law does not extend to useful items. Therefore, complications may arise when sculptural works are also “useful” items. In these instances, copyright law will protect purely artistic elements of a useful article as long as the useful item can be identified and exists independently of the utilitarian aspects of the article (this concept is sometimes called the “separability test”). 17 U.S.C. §. A “useful article” is an article that has a purpose beyond pure aesthetic value.

https://www.rtlawoffices.com/articles/can-i-copyright-my-des...

Is it safe to assume the rest of the downvotes were from people who were also incorrect?

Re: GitHub Copilot, with “public code” blocked, emits my copyrighted code

#297

Post by naikrovek »

webstrand wrote: post #122
naikrovek wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

what proprietary code? the guy on Twitter is seeing his own GPL code bring reproduced. nothing proprietary there. do you have the "don't reproduce code verbatim" preference set?

He owns the copyright to the code, and the code is not in the public domain, therefore it is proprietary code.

that is not what proprietary means and you know it.

Re: GitHub Copilot, with “public code” blocked, emits my copyrighted code

#298

Post by TaylorAlexander »

acoustics wrote: post #6

I’ve noticed that people tend to disapprove of AI trained on their profession’s data, but are usually indifferent or positive about other applications of AI. For example, I know artists who are vehemently against DALL-E, Stable Diffusion, etc. and regard it as stealing, but they view Copilot and GPT-3 as merely useful tools. I also know software devs who are extremely excited about AI art and GPT-3 but are outraged b…

I am strongly against intellectual property, but I don’t like this idea that any one of us will get in big trouble for openly violating IP restrictions, but if one of these big companies scoops up copyrighted works for their AI it’s fine? The double standard is unfair. This all seems like a great opportunity for big companies to encourage the growth of Creative Commons, which would benefit everyone, but instead they’re making large private datasets only they control.

Re: GitHub Copilot, with “public code” blocked, emits my copyrighted code

#299

Post by naikrovek »

IncRnd wrote: post #208
naikrovek wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

what proprietary code? the guy on Twitter is seeing his own GPL code bring reproduced. nothing proprietary there. do you have the "don't reproduce code verbatim" preference set?

The code is not GPL but is copyrighted in his name.

some of it is lgpl and some of it is gpl. code contributed by others is licensed differently.

Re: GitHub Copilot, with “public code” blocked, emits my copyrighted code

#300

Post by crummy »

mdaniel wrote: post #40

I didn't feel like weighing into that Twitter thread, but in the screenshot one will notice that the code generated by Copilot has secretly(?) swapped the order of the interior parameters to "cs_done". Maybe that's fine, but maybe it's not, how in the world would a Copilot consumer know to watch out for that? Double extra good if a separate prompt for "cs_done" comingles multiple implementations where some care and s…

In my opinion Copilot helps with the easy, boring stuff by typing what I likely would have typed anyway. The harder the code to write, the less likely I'd be to lean on Copilot.
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