this post was submitted on 14 Mar 2024
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Science Memes

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That introduction... (mander.xyz)
submitted 8 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
34 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2468023024002402

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[–] [email protected] 0 points 8 months ago (1 children)

For the record, LLMs cannot hold a copyright, and material produced by them has no copyright.

using them to generate summaries or introductions isn’t plagiarism, though the lack of copyright is probably significant to the organization.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I am not seeing where copyrights came into this discussion, but fwiw the bills I mentioned were passed many years ago, before any LLMs existed.

I don't think congressional bills even need to be copyrighted.

Academic papers do not either, although plagiarism still exists, yet has nothing to do with copyrights.

Summaries are fine for like a Google search, but for a scientific paper using other words without proper attribution is enough to lose not only a job but to have one's degree revoked, even decades after being awarded.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

simply using a LLM to condense an introduction from whatever data you feed it isn’t plagiarism. Now, using unsourced material definitely is.

As for academic or whatever else- all works are copy protected automatically when they’re created. This even includes that horrible crayon drawing you made in kindergarten of your family and dog.

Material generated by LLMs are an exception and automatically in the public domain.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

simply using a LLM to condense an introduction from whatever data you feed it isn’t plagiarism.

Agreed. Though as you are saying, it is what you DO with it after that, which may make it plagiarism. A student using an LLM to personally learn? Not plagiarism. A student turning in that summary as evidence that they "understand" the subject matter? Especially without bothering to read it first? Now that is plagiarism!:-P

LLMs are tools like any other. Using a gun to kill someone? Well... is it self-defense? Then not murder. Are you a court-appointed executioner, in a state that offers the death penalty? Then not murder. Was it an accident? Then not... exactly murder. B/c you are Russia/Israel and you want the land next to you? Somehow also not "murder", depending on who you ask, but c'mon... really?!

Tools, by lowering the barrier to performing a task beyond what can be done naturally and unaided, mostly just enact the will of the user, though somewhat also act to "tempt" the user to do things that they might not have otherwise been able to do - e.g. murder, or plagiarize.

But congress-people did not need LLMs to pass bills written by lobbyists - the only thing changing there is how easy the latter process is, though to the congress-person it is the same level of ease as before, zero effort required:-P.