Sustainable Data Rivers? Rebalancing the Data Ecosystem That Underlies Generative AI

Abstract The salient concern, today, is not whether copyright law will “allow robots to learn.” The pressing question is whether the exploitation of the data ecosystem that has made generative AI possible can be made socially sustainable. Just as the human right to water is only possible if reasonable use and reciprocity constraints are imposed on the economic exploitation of rivers, so is the fundamental right to access culture, learn, and build upon it. To restore this right to its proper place within the balancing act IP law is supposed to enable demands fundamental legal reform. This article explores the merits of reconstructing copyright as a permitted privilege (rather than property right). It also highlights the extent to which, for such reform to bear fruit and contribute to a socially sustainable data ecosystem, it needs to be supported by bottom-up participatory infrastructure.