How we built the Waifu Vending Machine
The dataset this is built from (<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.gwern.net&#x2F;Danbooru2018" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.gwern.net&#x2F;Danbooru2018</a>) is, simply put, copyright-infringing on a gross scale. The vast majority of the images uploaded to &#x27;boorus&#x27; completely lack a compatible license or the artist&#x27;s express consent. The redistribution via torrent of 2.5 TB of some 3 million images only compounds this problem. None of this is ameliorated by the $20 &#x27;generosity&#x27; of the dataset creator.<p>As a result, every single artist whose work was included in that dataset has a clear, meaningful claim that each and every &#x27;waifu&#x27; sold ($20, if customized, or $5 if random) by Sizigi Studios is an infringing derivative work. Coupled with at least one of the project authors&#x27; ready admissions -- in this very comment section -- of scraping image sites himself, I would say that this team is playing with fire. Even in the case that an algorithm&#x27;s output is somehow found to be &#x27;creative&#x27; rather than mechanistic, AND this specific application is found to be in all cases substantially transformative, there&#x27;s STILL the original massive 2.5 TB of copyright infringement up front to deal with.<p>All an enterprising lawyer would need to begin is to search the BigQuery metadata for the &#x27;artist&#x27; and &#x27;copyright&#x27; tags on these images.  Note of course that the &#x27;copyright&#x27; tag is widely misused on boorus and similar image repositories to refer to the inspiring franchise; &#x27;trademark&#x27; would be much more accurate descriptor.<p>EDIT: 
I do not mean to suggest that litigation from the use of the dataset in this ML (as opposed to the original, clearly infringing, download &amp; redistribution) would in any way be an easy, one-sided case --- only that this scenario would represent nearly the worst possible test case imaginable for determining the future legality of ML, short of directly antagonizing the RIAA or MPAA.