intellectual property

Over the last few months, I’ve been experimenting with ChatGPT. I even asked it to write this article about how journalists could use ChatGPT and it spewed out 437 words on how it was a tool that could sift through vast amounts of information to uncover the truth. It even created fake story lines about make-believe journalists who used it to report stories that never happened. In short, a fairy tale.

Artificial Intelligence and ChatGPT learn grammar, syntax, semantics, and even some level of reasoning and context to mimic human speech and communications. They suck up existing information on the internet and regurgitate it according to the question you pose.

And we all know information on the internet is true, don’t we?

If there’s a data void, ChatGPT will usually not answer a question by saying it does not know the answer, but it will make up an answer. Unless you are extremely specific—I asked it “what is the future of land use in Cooperstown, Wisconsin” and it did reply As of my last update, I don’t have access to information about the specific future developments or plans for land use in Cooperstown, WI.

The reality is most journalists are in the business of reporting new information (hence the term “news”). If they’re local reporters, chances are the internet data dump does not have the latest info on the workings of a local school board or a common council or a court proceeding.

So will ChatGPT supplant local journalism? The reality is scooping information off the internet cannot be trusted. We will still need reporters and editors to vet information, double check sources, or to present the human impact of the news.

Just ask ChatGPT—it’ll tell you that AI models “may not be able to fully replace local news.” At least that much is true.

So what do you do when a competitor uses your proprietary information?

Usually, I would tell a client to make sure information has a copyright © sign or they contact their attorneys. However, today everyone’s a publisher thanks to WordPress and everyone’s a journalist thanks to the internet. So “garage journalists” who don’t give a hoot about objectivity, attributing information to sources or vetting the facts will easily copy and paste your proprietary info into their blogs, Facebook pages or tweets.

Recently, we discussed exactly this situation at a business training program with entrepreneurs who have been in business 5-10 years. One businessman (we’ll call him Larry) publishes his own industry information and a competitor has been “borrowing” it liberally for his business without attributing it. Larry’s customers depend on his information and look forward to it in his emails and newsletters. Being a direct guy, Larry has personally asked the guy to stop taking his info.

Does he call a lawyer?

Perhaps. But our solution was to inform his customers and social networks of the situation and have the network get to work. Larry’s customers are fiercely loyal to him—because they are so deeply involved in his lifestyle, products and services they are likely to take this action personally. Larry’s a hard-working guy who lives and breathes his business—his passion attracts equally passionate customers.

You can do everything to protect your information, but often the best weapon is an engaged and committed customer base. Remember to involve your customer in your personal story so they become as dedicated to your product/business as you are. Get your customer involved by regularly communicating with them, presenting a compelling story and providing information that matters to their lifestyles.

I can’t wait to see what happens when his fans find out an interloper is falsely trading on Larry’s sweat-equity.

If you’re interested, find me at mkathrynschmidt@gmail.com.