Jewelry World Needs Policies on Generative AI

(IDEX Online) - Jewelry firms should adopt policies to protect themselves and the wider industry from the pitfalls of generative AI (GenAI), says CIBJO, the World Jewellery Federation.

GenAI poses a risk because it can be intentionally used to create items closely "inspired by" other designers, in an area where the law has yet to catch up with technology.

There's also a risk associated with designs made solely using GenAI, because there's no copyright protection, says Sara Yood (pictured), president of CIBJO's
Ethics Commission.

"Over the past year, businesses have increasingly turned to GenAI across the value chain to enhance and accelerate business," she writes in a Special Report ahead of the CIBJO Congress in Vicenza, Italy, next month.

"These tools certainly can expand human creativity and increase output, but they have the capacity to create a central tension, because GenAI can also appropriate, imitate or obscure creativity."

GenAI itself cannot be an author for copyright purposes, so a design made solely by GenAI cannot qualify for copyright protection, she says, and is effectively free for anyone to use.

She also highlights the lack of regulation around AI, and the legal issues around it being trained on copyrighted material.

Yood calls for a governance framework for acceptable AI use and written policies to prohibit the unauthorized uploading of third-party materials.

The report calls for a Workplace AI Policy that includes:

At least one person overseeing AI use

Prohibiting unauthorized copying and deliberate imitation

Disclosing GenAI use when it affects authorship/authenticity/consumer expectations

Not letting AI misrepresent design, materials, craftsmanship, or provenance

Recognizing AI's environmental impact