Data-Scraping Philosophy Tube Puts Ethical AI Into the Pile

CREATOR NEWSLETTER



THE COMMENTS SECTION


So why, besides her recent cameos on Max and Disney shows, am I bringing her up today? Well, Philosophy Tube was one of the YouTube 48,000 channels recently revealed to have been scraped for an illegal, large-scale data dump known as “The Pile.” OpenAI, Apple, Nvidia and Salesforce (among others) are using the Pile to further develop their deep-learning AI products without obtaining consent or offering compensation for the creators whose work is used. OpenAI and Google are now contending with a $5 million dollar lawsuit by a YouTuber on behalf of these content producers, which, as Lon Harris points out, is, uh…nothing. Like, not even a drop in the bucket for the companies, and if split between 170,000 videos that make up the pile’s training set from YouTube would be valuing them at $29 a pop.

Meanwhile, a Meta AI chatbot recently admitted to being trained not on the Pile (yay!), but a wholly separate, proprietary method called Meta Scraping and Extraction (MSaE), which included its own dataset of another 3.7 million YouTube video transcripts. (Boo!) Philosophy Tube was also among those used for MSaE.

This feels particularly unfair, seeing as the pile may very well include Philosophy Tube’s hour-long explainer, “Here’s What Ethical AI Really Means,” which itself is a response to a user taking another popular video on the channel about Effective Altruism and running it through a generative AI program to create non-consensual pornography of Thorn.

“To have someone take my writing and use it for profit – these companies are trying to get people to invest in their product, trying to get people to pay to use their product – and they have taken something that I put a little bit of my heart and soul into, and they are selling it. It makes me feel violated,” Thorn told Marketplace in regards to the pile.

Is there a solution to this thorny issue? I’d suggest supporting Thorn via Patreon and watching her videos on creator-friendly subscription streaming service Nebula. While YouTube has policies forbidding this type of scraping practice, they clearly aren’t taking the sort of action against these major companies that they do among their own users. It’s an irony that won’t escape any of the creators taking financial hits whenever their work is erroneously misidentified by the automated ContentID tool but does nothing to protect their own copyrighted work from being used to help Apple’s profit margins. 


NOTED BY LON HARRIS

Open AI app over youtube logos

IN THE BIZ


PLATFORMS

Twitch’s DJ Program Is Confusing Creators

DJs and streamers have already started to question some of the program’s lop-sided rules, messaging, and rollout.

By Steven Asarch, Passionfruit Contributor


TIPS & TRICKS

How To Make A Sound on TikTok: A Guide To Working The System

Get control over how you use sound on TikTok.

By Jen Glantz, Passionfruit Contributor


WHAT WE’RE WATCHING


YOUTUBE MADE ME DO IT

Let’s get weird with Eliot Dewberry, co-host of Internet Today, as he joins Deep Linkers to discuss his journey from ETC and Machinima to co-running his own channel with co-host Ricky Hayberg. They now explore the weird, wild world of internet culture, covering everything important, troublesome, funny, and bizarre.

Be sure to subscribe to the Passionfruit YouTube channel so you don’t miss an episode! If you’d prefer to listen in audio form, we also have a podcast feed

Content for Creators.

News, tips, and tricks delivered to your inbox twice a week.

Newsletter Signup

Latest Newsletters

  • 🔥 Rebecca Black Shares Insight From One Creator to Another

    🔥 Rebecca Black Shares Insight From One Creator to Another

    CREATOR ECONOMY NEWSLETTER Issue #107 | Feb. 9, 2023 Rebecca Black is not just a musical sensation, she’s a creator legend.  Beyond her “Friday” backstory, Black is truly a conqueror of internet culture. Aside from her original music, she became a successful YouTuber with over a million followers—posting vlogs, Q&As, and stripped-back song covers in…

  • 🤷 Creators Baffled by Elon Musk’s New Monetization Policy

    🤷 Creators Baffled by Elon Musk’s New Monetization Policy

    CREATOR ECONOMY NEWSLETTER Issue #106 | Feb. 7, 2023 Twitter CEO Elon Musk announced last week that the company would begin sharing ad revenue with creators paying for Twitter Blue. In typical Musk fashion, this announcement brings more confusion than clarity.  Not only has Twitter not shared how creators will be paid, but it also…

  • 🔈TikToker Keith Lee Speaks Out Against Rumors He Is a ‘Thief’

    🔈TikToker Keith Lee Speaks Out Against Rumors He Is a ‘Thief’

    CREATOR ECONOMY NEWSLETTER Issue #105 | Feb. 2, 2023 Hi everyone, happy Black History Month. We have an exciting line up of features this month celebrating Black creators, activists, business leaders, and stories. Stay tuned! This week, we’re exploring a viral story about food TikToker Keith Lee, who recently spoke out against false rumors that…