🍔 AI and burgers?
Cecilia Ziniti
The juiciest IP license I've ever seen. Broader than Meta's. Read on.
Backstory: I was in Chicago for the
National Association of Women Lawyers
. For lunch, we hit the iconic burger place Au Cheval in the West Loop.
Walking in, I spotted this crazy sign by the door …
By stepping inside the restaurant, you say yes to the restaurant's:
1️⃣ use of your image “in any publication or work in any media or format throughout the world” for promotional “or other purposes”,
2️⃣ “irrevocable, perpetual, and royalty-free right to use, re-use, copy, publish, republish ... edit, add to, modify, and rearrange any photograph or video taken of you”,
3️⃣ “right to use and deal with [your pics and videos] in any manner … without compensation”, and
4️⃣ waiving your legal claims related to any use.
Phew!
So, in our new AI world, what can Au Cheval do? Is this bad?
Hm. Here's a non-exhaustive list of what this “walk-through” license allows them to do:
😁 Deepfake Endorsements: Hello videos of you eating burgers, championing political causes, shilling real estate, or modeling lingerie.
📺 AI Avatars: Oh, look it's you, starring in Au Cheval's or its partners' ads, social media posts, or as a holographic virtual waiter.
🥑 VR Characters: Strangers can “dine” with your double and order extra avocado from you in, say, Roblox or Meta VR.
And it gets worse!
🧑🔬 The restaurant can even use your biometric data under this license.
Au Cheval could argue they have consent – in the form of your walking in, having seen the sign – to sell your data to third parties to train their AI systems and beyond. They could say the process meets the consent prong under Illinois law - BIPA, the Biometric Information Privacy Act.
🫠 Phew!
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🤝 Tech transactions friends - what do we think? Good license draft? Would you go broader? lol.
🔐 Privacy friends - enforceable?
🍳 Foodie friends - have you tried the burger? It's delicious. Fried egg. Brioche bun. Rich AF. Recommend.
🙏 PS - A huge shoutout to
for hosting me at NAWL for an AI session. Amazing org, trip, and energy.
🏙️ PPS - the skyscraper in the pic is the St. Regis, the tallest building in the world designed by a woman. It's beautiful.
🤔 PPPS - attaching and linking
's analysis in thread. Spoiler: GC AI says this sign overreaches. Understatement!
