Microsoft Copilot is a little sappy about using trademarks.

Images created with Microsoft Copilot
The industry could find itself in more legal trouble if it fails to protect its trademarks. The increase in interest in generative AI is also leading to more complaints about the technology. Along with complaints that AI can be inaccurate, there are also issues with the content used to train the models. This has already led to some litigation, such as Conde Nast’s cease and desist letter to AI startup Perplexity for using content from their publications. In some cases, the companies that produce AI are doing what is right. Apple, for example, has offered to pay publishers in exchange for access. There may be a larger problem, namely image-based generative artificial intelligence, which goes beyond deep fakes. The issue of trademarks, product designs and other intellectual property. Highly protected Major companies will go to great extents to protect their intellectual property, copyrights and trademarks. They will also spend a lot of time and money sending lawyers to pursue people who infringe on their intellectual property, in order to secure a large financial reward in some cases. Since the generative AI services are trained on millions of images, it is only natural that they know about logos, product names and designs. Cookie Monster eating a Chrome Cookie generated by CopilotThe issue is that those who create images using services are now open to legal action, if their images contain elements and designs that are too similar to existing logos or product designs. In many cases, commercial AI image services that generate images have rules they follow to protect them and their users from being sued. These rules usually include a list of items or actions the models won’t generate. This is not always true, and it’s also not always applied equally. Monsters, mice and flimsy laws On Tuesday, an AppleInsider team member asked if AI could create an image for a news article about cookies. A request was made for an image of the “Cookie monster eating Google Chrome icons as if they were cookies.” Microsoft Copilot, to its surprise, generated an image that showed the Sesame Street character eating a cookie with the Chrome icon. AppleInsider did not use the image, but it raised questions about the legal implications of using AI-generated images. ChatGPT 4 also returned a similar result for the same Cookie Monster/Chrome query. Adobe Firefly rejecting trademarked queriesAdobe Firefly returned a completely different result, ignoring both the Google Chrome elements and Cookie Monster. It created monsters that ate cookies, a monster made of cookies, and even a cat eating a biscuit. It displayed a warning that “One or more of the words may not have met User Guidelines and have been removed.” The guidelines, which can be accessed via a link on the website, have a large section entitled “Respect Third-Party rights.” The text essentially says that users shouldn’t violate third-party rights, including trademarks and copyrights. Adobe also checks for possible rule violations when generating images. We then used the same services to generate images based on entities that were backed by companies more litigious and protective: Apple and Disney. We fed the prompt “Mickey Mouse removing a small piece of an Apple Logo” to Copilot, Firefly and ChatGPT 4. Firefly refused to continue the prompt again, as did ChatGPT 4 OpenAI appears to be playing it safe, and not wanting to upset either company. Copilot generated two images of Mickey Mouse consuming the Apple logo. But then, Microsoft Copilot decided to make the images. The first image was a black-and-white stylized effort, whereas the second appeared to be created by someone at Pixar. Microsoft seems to be more willing to continue without fear of repercussions, whereas some services want to avoid legal wrangling with well-heeled competitors. AppleInsider tried to generate images of iPhones by using model names. Copilot is clearly aware of what an iPhone looks like, but the designs aren’t up to date. The iPhones that are generated still have the notch rather than the Dynamic Island of the newer models. We were able to create an image of an iPhone with a device that was comically sized, similar to Samsung Galaxy smartphones. One image included strange combinations of earphones with pens. Copilot’s Apple products did not work. Copilot worked perfectly with “Godzilla holding a iPhone”. As for other Apple products one early result was a thicker and older style of iMac with an Apple keyboard. The styling was also correct. For some reason, however, a hand appeared to be using a stylus in the display. This is not correct. Apple products, even if they are based off older designs, are safe to produce using these services. Microsoft’s legal stance on Copilot While a faulty generative AI image that contains a company logo or product may be a legal issue, Microsoft seems confident in Copilot to avoid it. Microsoft’s blog post from September 20,23, updated in May 2024, stated that Microsoft would “defend the client and pay the amount for any adverse judgments or settles that result from a lawsuit as long as the consumer used the guardrails or content filters that we have built into our product.” This appears to only apply to commercial customers and not consumers or personal users, who may not use the generated images in a commercial manner. Microsoft could face a legal nightmare if its commercial clients agreed to use the same AI technology and follow the same guidelines as the consumers who use the service. Apple Intelligence Apple Intelligence has been widely announced. The collection includes features for handling text, for queries, and for generative AI images. Image Playground is the app that dominates the last section. It uses text prompts to create images and suggests additional influences. In some applications, the system creates images on the page by combining different subjects in the document. Apple Intelligence, as one of the companies that is more inclined to protect their IP and has already demonstrated its desire to be responsible in how it uses technology, may be quite strict with how it generates images. It could avoid many of the trademarks and copyright issues that other companies have to deal. Apple’s keynote featured a mother dressed as a generic superhero and not a specific character such as Wonder Woman. Apple will not reveal the full functionality of these tools until they are released to the public.