Nvidia's own DLSS 5 video being blocked on YouTube thanks to an Italian TV station is pretty funny, but boy, it sure makes me worried about AI copyright infringement

YouTube's copyright system is daft, so I'm not really surprised to hear that it blocked Nvidia's own DLSS 5 announcement video off the back of a claim. The blip will likely bring a smile to the face of anti-AI gaming PC players far and wide, but while the mix-up made me snigger, Beavis and Butthead-style, I can't help but feel we're not remotely prepared for more complex gen-AI copyright situations brought on by Nvidia's latest form of upscaling.

Highlighted by NikTek in an X post, the whole DLSS 5 copyright strike incident was initially sparked by La7, an Italian television channel that decided to use Nvidia's footage. Following a broadcast, the TV company issued copyright strikes to any YouTube videos using the same footage, which just so happened to include the original "Announcing NVIDIA DLSS 5" clip from three weeks ago.

As a result, Nvidia's DLSS 5 unveiling was unavailable in Italy for over 24 hours, and plenty of creators were hit with the same strike. The OG clip is now back online, and it's safe to assume the whole affair was likely sparked by automatic processes of some kind. I'd usually just do an "Oh you!" meme head tilt at YouTube's Content ID system and get on with my day, but honestly? I'm now feeling pretty neurotic about the idea that these systems aren't remotely prepared for future incidents sparked by gen AI.

Artists and content creators already have a massive fight on their hands when it comes to AI. While bodies like the UK Government have backtracked on their original plans to allow AI companies to train models using copyrighted content, we're still sailing towards a reality where other people's work could be used to generate other pieces of media that may, in turn, look like an uncanny version of the original source material.

How does this tie back to the DLSS 5 copyright situation? Well, if companies that like to push around their copyright-holding powers, like TV conglomerates, start using more generative AI, we could end up in a situation where the original material suffers the same fate. Yes, the current situation is just a classic instance of YouTube's Content ID system defecating the proverbial bed rather than anything directly linked to video generation. Nevertheless, there's a degree of unfortunate irony here in that the company currently at the receiving end of the hiccup is at the forefront of tech that could spark weirder copyright strikes in the future.

I'm naturally hoping that if gen AI use becomes more of a norm, it won't exacerbate flawed systems like YouTube's Content ID in the future. I mean, if a TV station can spark a bunch of copyright strikes just by using some footage under fair use that doesn't even belong to them, I'd hate to see what might happen in more complex situations where people are generating content based on other work and assets.

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