Pallavi Seth, Principal at the Brattle Group and Co-Chair of its Intellectual Property practice, sits down with Dr. Brent Lutz, Chief Economist at the US Copyright Office and former Brattle colleague, to explore the economic complexities at the intersection of artificial intelligence (AI) and copyright policy.

Pallavi and Brent discuss Brent’s recent collaborative publication, “Identifying the Economic Implications of Artificial Intelligence for Copyright Policy,” which provides an economic research framework for evaluating AI’s impact on copyright. They clarify the definitions and distinctions between generative AI outputs and the use of copyrighted materials as AI inputs, and examine the challenges in defining optimal copyright policies in this rapidly evolving space.

Throughout the conversation, Pallavi and Brent explore core economic principles underlying copyright, the social welfare considerations of policy choices, the difficulties of creating collective licensing schemes, and the pragmatic challenges facing creators and AI developers alike.

Timestamped Overview
00:00 Introduction
04:38 AI Definition and Copyright Challenges
07:41 AI Copyright: Social Benefits Debate
11:24 "Balancing Economics of AI Policy"
13:50 "Copyright and Market Power Dynamics"
19:49 AI Policy's Social Impact & Market Power
21:24 AI Creativity and Resource Constraints
27:34 Complex Value Assessment in AI Training
28:37 Licensing Challenges for Training Materials