Microsoft AI chief Mustafa Suleyman suggests anyone can use information on internet to train their AI model

Since the arrival of ChatGPT in 2022, many experts have argued about how AI tools use the work of others to train their AI models, which they deem to be unfair to the original creators. Many writers and artists have also had legal battles with several AI companies in the last few months, after accusations of stealing their data.

However, Mustafa Suleyman, the head of Microsoft’s new AI division, while giving an interview to CNBC’s Andrew Ross stated that anything you publish on the internet becomes ‘freeware’ and that it can be copied and used to train various AI models. He further added, “I think that with respect to content that’s 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.”

Suleyman also added that unless a publisher or news organisation explicitly requests not to borrow or copy their content for anything other than indexing, all AI companies can use any type of data to train their AI models. This revelation has also made Microsoft’s stance clear on the matter of the use of content uploaded on the internet to train AI models.

Suleyman was appointed as Microsoft’s AI chief in April suggested that the company is characterised by a “genuinely supportive and strong culture,” which is remarkably consistent from the top down. Suleyman also talked about the increasing role of AI at Microsoft, pointing out that leaders like Satya Nadella and Kevin Scott believe AI is “the biggest technological transformation of our time.”