In a world where art illustrations are being copied left and right by AI what is stopping the exact same thing to happen to typefaces? (And with it any license inconveniences)
These days the value in a font isn’t in the letterforms, it’s in the kerning, ligatures, variability, etc. which all flows from the software. It’s also where a significant amount of the labor in creating a typeface comes from. And it’s the thing that sets apart professional-quality fonts from many (but not all!) free ones.
If AI can write new font software by cloning bitmaps of letterforms _and_ get the kerning, ligatures, variability, etc. right… it’ll change the type foundry industry in a big way.
https://lttrface.com/doctoral-thesis
Video from a talk from the ATD3 conference in Nancy which briefly explains the thesis https://vimeo.com/1059759506
I do absolutely think integrating into the deeper features and functionality of fonts and opentype is what will make it work! Making it work well with existing font design software is also super important for typedesigners.