Q: Can I train AI on recipe ingredients and timing under ToS?
I want to train an AI model on recipes from a website, using only the ingredients and the time it takes, ensuring I don't violate copyright laws by avoiding personal anecdotes or creative ideas. The website's terms of service state: "(f) you shall not use any data from the Services for the development of any software program (including but not limited to training a machine learning or artificial intelligence (AI) system)." Would training the AI on basic ingredients and time violate these terms? And if it is in violation, wouldn't all apps that use AI APIs like the ChatGPT API for instance, also be in violation of the terms of service because ChatGPT has most likely been trained on data that was taken despite websites' terms of service policies saying not to? Like at what point is the line of legal and illegal?
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A:
Looking at the situation you've described, you would indeed be violating the website's terms of service. The terms explicitly state that you cannot use data from their services for training any machine learning or intelligence system - this prohibition covers even basic information like ingredients and timing.
When you use a website, you enter into a contractual agreement by accepting their terms of service. This agreement exists separately from copyright law, meaning that even if ingredient lists themselves might not be copyrightable, using them for training purposes would still breach your contract with the website.
Your question about larger systems is thought-provoking. The legal landscape around training on web-scraped data remains murky and evolving, with numerous ongoing lawsuits challenging these practices. Different jurisdictions may reach different conclusions, and factors like how the data was collected, whether proper attribution was given, and whether the use could be considered transformative all play roles in determining legality. If you're worried about legal implications, you might consider using public domain recipe collections or creating your own dataset through other means.
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