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by echelon 974 days ago
If AI makes creation of all artistic works easier and cheaper, then the value of old content becomes significantly lessened. We should adapt new copyright policies to not only preserve these works, but to push people to keep innovating.
2 comments

> If AI makes creation of all artistic works easier and cheaper, then the value of old content becomes significantly lessened.

Even today, creation and publication has become a lot easier and cheaper since Shakespeare's times already. But people still like his work, despite a flood of new material having come out since they were first published.

Of course, Shakespeare is exceptional in his cultural cachet.

> We should adapt new copyright policies to not only preserve these works, but to push people to keep innovating.

What do you have in mind? Archiving is already mostly allowed by current copyright policies. And I'm not sure how copyright policies can 'push people to keep innovating'? At most you can try to get out of the way.

Or, if you are being sneaky, you can lobby for arcane and arbitrary censorship rules: after all, limitations breed creativity. Eg East German political jokes were a lot better than West German ones.

See also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Void or https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oulipo

I believe it was Schopenhauer who said in one of his essays that (I’m paraphrasing) just because content is new, doesn’t make it good, because with a constant stream of new content, what’s good doesn’t stay new for long.
I'd argue that the rise of AI makes all pre-AI works more valuable. Not only because only pre-AI works are guaranteed to be free of AI filler "content", but also because pre-AI works represent a larger investment of authorial time and expertise. Kind of how hand-sculped works from the renaissance era are more valuable than far more detailed 3d-printed objects.
You'll still be able to make films the old way. It'll become an artistic choice.