Microsoft AI division CEO Mustafa Suleyman says anyone can copy and use content available on the internet

Microsoft AI division CEO Mustafa Suleyman says anyone can copy and use content available on the internet

When ChatGPT was launched by OpenAI in the year 2022, it gave rise to numerous debates and discussions. One of these was how AI tools use work of others to train and that this can be unfair to the original creators. In the last few months, several writers are artists have taken AI companies to the court for using their work without taking permission. However, Microsoft's new AI chief thinks that all content that is available on the internet is free to use for training purposes.

In a recent interview with CNBC's Andrew Ross, Mustafa Suleyman, the head of Microsoft's new AI division, shared his thoughts on the use of internet content for training AI models. Suleyman, who co-founded Google DeepMind, said that anything published on the internet has essentially become "freeware." According to him, since the 1990s, the social contract surrounding web content has been that it is fair use, meaning anyone can copy, recreate, and reproduce the content available for free on the internet.

"With respect to content that is already on the open web, the social contract of that content since the 90s has been that it is fair use. Anyone can copy it, recreate with it, reproduce with it. That has been freeware, if you like. That's been the understanding," he said during the interview.

Suleyman also said that unless a publisher or news organisation explicitly requests not to have their content scraped or crawled for anything other than indexing, AI companies can use it to train AI models.

Suleyman was appointed as Microsoft's AI chief in April this year. About a month later, he talked about his experience in a LinkedIn post. Suleyman described his initial period at the company as "exhilarating" and "fulfilling," highlighting the extensive opportunities to engage with numerous people, organisations, and projects.

He wrote that Microsoft is characterised by a "genuinely supportive and strong culture," which is remarkably consistent from the top down. He also added that this environment has facilitated a smooth transition and integration into the company, for which he expressed deep gratitude towards his colleagues.

Suleyman also talked about the pivotal role of artificial intelligence (AI) at Microsoft, pointing out that leaders like Satya Nadella and Kevin Scott have made it clear that the company prioritises AI, driving what the employee views as "the biggest technological transformation of our time."