NOS Investigates Allegations of Unauthorized Use of Dutch Artist Images by OpenAI and Midjourney

The NOS suspects that OpenAI and Midjourney have used images from Dutch makers to train AI models. The public broadcaster came to this conclusion after its own research. According to the NOS, the tech companies may have infringed copyright.

The NOS editors have asked the image generators of the above-mentioned tech companies to generate images in the style of some well-known Dutch image makers such as Erwin Olaf, Eddy van Wessel, and Dick Bruna. It is not clear which prompts the editors used. From the reporting it appears that they were only asked to imitate the style of these makers without specific further instructions.

The image generators are said to have subsequently produced images containing 'each time characteristic features' of the well-known works of the makers. In the case of Erwin Olaf, for example, images were generated with women in a yellow dress. That was one of the style characteristics of the Dutch photographer. Eddy van Wessel made black and white images in a war zone. That is again typical of the creator.

The NOS editors consulted four AI experts with their findings. These experts could not say with 100 percent certainty that the AI models have been trained on the works of the Dutch makers but according to the NOS, they stated that it is 'very similar'.

The NOS was correct. then contact an intellectual property lawyer. He stated that if works are protected and someone makes off with them a copyright infringement is quickly assumed. There would be an exception for the collection of public data from scientific institutions. Commercial parties could also make use of this as long as the rights holders have not explicitly objected to this practice. According to the NOS that is the opt-out clause. Such an opt-out was used in the works of Dick Bruna and Eddy van Wessel. This is not the case with the works of Erwin Olaf.