{"id":76386,"date":"2025-04-09T15:18:38","date_gmt":"2025-04-09T15:18:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/?p=76386"},"modified":"2025-04-09T22:40:10","modified_gmt":"2025-04-09T22:40:10","slug":"cc-sxsw-protecting-the-commons-in-the-age-of-ai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/2025\/04\/09\/cc-sxsw-protecting-the-commons-in-the-age-of-ai\/","title":{"rendered":"CC @ SXSW: Protecting the Commons in the Age of AI"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"post-76387 media-76387\" class=\"align-center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Blog-Image-Size-1.png\" alt=\"\" \/><figcaption class=\"attribution\">SXSW by Creative Commons is licensed under <a style=\"display: inline-block;\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/?ref=chooser-v1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license noopener noreferrer\">CC BY 4.0<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you\u2019ve been following along on the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/blog\/archive\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">blog<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> this year, you\u2019ll know that we\u2019ve been thinking a lot about the future of open, particularly in this age of AI. With our <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/2025\/03\/03\/from-strategy-to-action-focus-areas-for-2025\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">2025-2028 strategy to guide us<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, we\u2019ve been louder about a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/2025\/04\/02\/reciprocity-in-the-age-of-ai\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">renewed call for reciprocity<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to defend and protect the commons as well as the importance of <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/2025\/02\/18\/the-ai-action-summit-civil-societys-possible-impact\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">openness in AI and open licensing<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to avoid an enclosure of the commons.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Last month, we took some of these conversations on the road and hosted the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classy.org\/event\/creative-commons'-open-house-for-an-open-future\/e663144\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Open House for an Open Future<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> during SXSW in Austin, TX, as part of a weekend-long <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wiki.haus\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Wiki Haus<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> event with our friends at the Wikimedia Foundation.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">During the event, we spoke with <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Audrey_Tang#:~:text=Audrey%20Tang%20(Chinese%3A%20%E5%94%90%E9%B3%B3,August%202022%20to%20May%202024.\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Audrey Tang<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Cory_Doctorow\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Cory Doctorow<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> about the future of open, especially as we look towards CC\u2019s 25th anniversary in 2026.\u00a0 In this wide-ranging conversation, a number of themes were reflected that capture both where we\u2019ve been over the last 25 years and where we should be focusing for the next 25 years, including:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>The Fight for Technological Self-Determination<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: Contractual restrictions are increasingly being used to lock down essential technologies, from printer ink to hospital ventilators. The push for openness and economic fairness must go beyond just content-sharing and extend to fighting for the rights of people to repair, modify, and use technology freely.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Shifting from Resistance to Building Alternatives<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: The open movement is not just about opposing corporate restrictions but also about creating viable, open alternatives. Initiatives like <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/g0v.tw\/intl\/en\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Gov Zero <\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">show that fostering decentralized, user-controlled platforms can help counteract monopolistic digital ecosystems.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>The Power of Exit as a Lever for Change<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: Simply having the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">option<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to leave restrictive platforms can influence corporate behavior. Efforts like <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/freeourfeeds.com\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Free Our Feeds<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and Bluesky aim to create credible exit strategies that prevent users from being locked into exploitative digital environments.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Beyond Copyright: New Frameworks for Openness and Innovation<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: While Creative Commons began as a response to copyright limitations, the next phase should focus on broader issues like supporting an infrastructure for open sharing, ethical AI development, and open governance models that empower communities rather than just limiting corporate control.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Reclaiming the Ethos of Open Source and Free Software<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: The movement must reconnect with its ethical roots, focusing on freedom <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">to<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> create, share, and innovate\u2014not just openness for the sake of efficiency. This includes resisting corporate capture of &#8220;openness&#8221; and ensuring technological advances serve public interest rather than private profit.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Since the proliferation of mainstream AI, we\u2019ve been analyzing the<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/2023\/08\/18\/understanding-cc-licenses-and-generative-ai\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> limitations of copyright<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (and, by extension, the CC licenses since they are built atop copyright law) as the right lens to think about guardrails for AI training. This means we need new tools and approaches in this age of AI that complement open licensing, while also advancing the AI ecosystem toward the public interest. Preference signals are based on the idea that creators and dataset holders should be active participants in deciding how and\/or if their content is used for AI training. Our friends at Bluesky, for example, have recently put forth a proposal on <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/bluesky-social\/proposals\/blob\/main\/0008-user-intents\/README.md\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">User Intents for Data Reuse<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, which is well worth a read to conceptualize how a preference signals approach could be considered on a social media platform. We\u2019ve also been actively participating in the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/datatracker.ietf.org\/wg\/aipref\/about\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">IETF\u2019s AI Preferences Working Group<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, since submitting a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ietf.org\/slides\/slides-aicontrolws-creative-commons-position-paper-on-preference-signals-00.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">position paper<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> on the subject mid-2024 .<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"post-76390 media-76390\" class=\"align-center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Blog-Image-Size-2.png\" alt=\"\" \/><figcaption class=\"attribution\">SXSW by Creative Commons is licensed under <a style=\"display: inline-block;\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/?ref=chooser-v1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license noopener noreferrer\">CC BY 4.0<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As CC gets closer to launching a protocol based on prosocial preference signals\u2014a simple pact between those stewarding the data and those reusing it for generative AI training\u2014we had the opportunity during SXSW to chat with some great thought leaders about this very topic. Our panelists were <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/carnegieendowment.org\/people\/aubra-anthony?lang=en\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Aubra Anthony<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, Senior Fellow, Technology and International Affairs Program at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.zachmcdowell.com\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Zachary J. McDowell<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, Phd, Assistant Professor, Department of Communication, University of Illinois at Chicago; <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/meta.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/User:LBecker_(WMF)\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lane Becker<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, President, Wikimedia LLC at Wikimedia Foundation, and our very own <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/person\/annacreativecommons-org\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Anna Tumad\u00f3ttir<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, CEO, Creative Commons to explore sharing in the age of AI.\u00a0 A few key takeaways from this conversation included:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Balancing Norms and Legal Frameworks<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: There is a growing interest in developing normative approaches and civil structures that go beyond traditional legal frameworks to ensure equitable use and transparency.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Navigating AI Traffic and Commercial Use<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: Wikimedia is<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/diff.wikimedia.org\/2025\/04\/01\/how-crawlers-impact-the-operations-of-the-wikimedia-projects\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> adapting to the influx of AI-driven bot traffic<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and exploring how to differentiate between commercial and non-commercial use. The idea of treating commercial traffic differently and finding ways to fundraise off bot traffic is becoming more prominent, raising important questions about sustainability in an open knowledge ecosystem. From CC\u2019s perspective, we\u2019ve found that as our open infrastructures mature they become increasingly taken for granted, a notion that is not conducive to a sustainable open ecosystem.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Openness in the Age of AI<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: There is growing reticence around openness, with creators becoming more cautious about sharing content due to the rise of generative AI (<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">note, this is exactly what our preference signals framework is meant to address, so stay tuned!<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">). We should emphasize the need for open initiatives to adapt to the broader social and economic context, balancing openness with creators\u2019 concerns about protection and sustainability.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Making Participation Easy and Understandable<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: To encourage widespread participation in open knowledge systems and for preference signal adoption, tools will need to be simple and intuitive. Whether through collective benefit models or platform cooperativism, ease of use and clarity are essential to engaging the broader public in contributing to open initiatives.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Did you know that many social justice and public good organizations are unable to participate in influential and culture-making events like SXSW due to a lack of funding? CC is a nonprofit organization and all of our activities must be cost-recovery. <\/span><b>We\u2019d like to sincerely thank our event sponsor, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation for making this event and these conversations possible<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. If you would like to contribute to our work, consider joining the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/support-cc\/open-infrastructure-circle\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Open Infrastructure Circle<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> which will help to fund a framework that makes reciprocity actionable when shared knowledge is used to train generative AI.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SXSW by Creative Commons is licensed under CC BY 4.0 If you\u2019ve been following along on the blog this year, you\u2019ll know that we\u2019ve been thinking a lot about the future of open, particularly in this age of AI. With our 2025-2028 strategy to guide us, we\u2019ve been louder about a renewed call for reciprocity&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":76387,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29,21],"tags":[143,1292],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76386"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76386"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76386\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":76400,"href":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76386\/revisions\/76400"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/76387"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76386"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76386"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}