Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman describes content on the open web as 'freeware'
SiliconANGLE
Aspen Ideas Festival, interview with CNBC's Andrew Ross Sorkin
“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.”
Mustafa Suleyman25 June 2024- What you'll lose5/5
Everything you ever posted online: 'freeware'.
- Condescension3/5
'That's been the understanding', says whom.
- Tone-deafness4/5
Said while publishers were suing Microsoft.
- Doom0/5
None.
- Hypocrisy1/5
Microsoft's own software has never been freeware.
Full time13 pitchforksof a possible 25
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The occasion
Aspen Ideas Festival, interview with CNBC's Andrew Ross Sorkin, 25 June 2024.
Context
Sorkin asked whether AI companies have effectively stolen the world's intellectual property by training on web content. Suleyman said publishers can opt out by telling crawlers not to scrape, and that other uses are a gray area that "is going to get litigated"; the remark came while Microsoft and OpenAI were being sued by publishers including The New York Times. TechCrunch's report of the same Aspen interview, dated 2024-06-25, says it took place "on Tuesday", which confirms the day.
Crowd reaction
Widespread criticism
HotHardware wrote that "users on social media have been lambasting Suleyman's comments", singling out a post calling his mindset "shoplifter logic"; heise, citing The Verge, noted that fair use is "not granted by a social, i.e. unwritten, contract, but by courts".
- SiliconANGLE: Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman describes content on the open web as 'freeware'
- HotHardware: Microsoft AI Chief Says It's OK To Scrape And Steal Content On The Web
- heise online: Head of Microsoft AI considers content on the internet to be "freeware"
- Complete Music Update: Online content is 'freeware' and anyone can copy anything on the 'open web' says Microsoft AI boss
- TechCrunch: Microsoft's Mustafa Suleyman says he loves Sam Altman, believes he's sincere about AI safety (same interview; confirms the day)
- Where the exact words are printed