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Comment by aprilthird2021 | Hacker News Reader

aprilthird2021

And it seems to be because the training data is largely unofficial subtitles from movies. Which often have a string like "Translated by X" at the end of the movie which is often silent while credits roll.

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Looks like they used more official sources for German - there, silence is apparently hallucinated as "Untertitelung des ZDF für funk, 2017" according to one of the comments on the issue. Which makes sense, as the public broadcasters' "Mediathek" is probably the largest freely available resource of subtitled videos in Germany. I wonder if the ZDF gave its approval for it being used for LLM training though?

> I wonder if the ZDF gave its approval for it being used for LLM training though?

I am pretty sure they didn't get asked.

Just like the people forced to pay for ZDF under threat of imprisonment.

I'm being made to pay for Autobahnen I barely use, finance kindergartens despite not having a child, and made to pay into public pensions with little hope of getting close to the same value out. All under threat of imprisonment, many without a way to even refuse (not that I'd want to) The only thing that sets the pubic broadcasting fee apart is that it's collected separately from taxes in an attempt to reduce the influence politicians have on broadcasters

This person refers to the German television and radio fee (Rundfunkgebühren).[1] It is a state-mandated system that ensures free (as in free speech) and (relatively) neutral public broadcasting institutions. There is a constant and engaged discussion, because every household in Germany has to pay this fee. Exceptions are made only for low-income households.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARD_ZDF_Deutschlandradio_Beitr...

A constant discussion, lately fueled by extremist parties (AfD) who feel treated unfairly by (amongst others) the public broadcasters (which has parallels to Trump's recent campaign against public broadcasters in the US).

Can't argue them - Tageschau always has been trashtalking people with the wrong opinion.

Back in 2011, Tageeschau openly rallied against Muslims and wanting public broadcasting gone was a leftist position. The whole thing is completely asinine to anyone who remembers.

So, people are made pay for it, and it makes it fair if billion USD corporations don't?

Just like any other public service paid for with public funds?

Oh it's like any other. Then just add another one!

Most content from Funk (youtubers funded by public german broadcasters) is available on youtube without any geoblocking or other limitations.

Ah, ok, thanks for the info, TIL! "We are funk – the first public service content network that started on October 1, 2016. We create online-only content on social networks and third-party platforms, including YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, Spotify, Apple Music or Twitch for 14-29 year-olds." (https://presse.funk.net/das-ist-funk/, scroll down for the English version). I live in Germany, and I even watch public broadcasters regularly, but this is the first time I have heard about funk (I even initially thought it was misspelled, usually it's written with a capital F). But I'm not part of the targeted audience (not now, nor even back in 2016 when it was launched), so all good...

I’m pretty sure that content doesn’t come with a license granting unlimited usage rights.

from the link[1] another user posted:

> We have a public service mandate, which means that we have very clear responsibilities according to the state media treaty. For us, this means that our top priority is actually reaching our target audience, namely approximately 15 million people living in Germany between the age of 14 and 29 who have internet access

It's not a binding contract for sure but I don't think that OpenAI or other AI scraper is their target.

[1] https://presse.funk.net/das-ist-funk/

definitely not! The media platform of the German public television networks is even geoblocking anyone outside of Germany.

https://www.ardmediathek.de/

A more appropriate output might be ``4'33" -- John Cage, 1952``

> I wonder if the ZDF gave its approval for it being used for LLM training though?

Obviously a rhetorical question. The AI grifters of this decade take what they want and laugh at your pitiful future

I'm sure they totally did not pirate the audio of said movies.

make sense..

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