This year, for the first time, the awards will be presented in four categories:
- the main prize
- investigative journalism
- journalism
- social journalism
Dr Krzysztof Kurosz is nominated in the "journalism" category. In previous years, the winners of the main prize of the competition included: Janusz Schwertner, Andrzej Stankiewicz, Jakub Wiech and Tomasz Rożek.
The article entitled "Prawa do cyfrowych influencerów i modelek" [Rights to digital influencers and models] was inspired by the growing popularity of unreal people over the past few years. They have their fans for whom the knowledge of their fictionality is meaningless. They have their own personalities, views on the world, and participate in various events. In the past, they were managed by teams of people working in advertising agencies, e.g. Aitana, which generated an income of EUR 10,000 per month or Miquela with several million followers since 2018. Now we are observing the next phase of the development of these characters –- namely, the emergence of digital influencers based on generative artificial intelligence. Startup 1337 is an excellent example. It uses generative artificial intelligence to build a community of AI-based micro-influencers.
Intellectual property law allows for a wide spectrum of qualification of digital characters: copyright law – a fictional character as a work. Trademarks also come into play – an image of a human being can be a trademark (a digital one too) and unfair competition under Article 13(1) of the Act on Combating Unfair Competition – imitation of a finished product (digital influencer). Intellectual property law therefore makes it possible to fulfil the "dream" of owning a model or an influencer (copyright, trademark law) or at least to protect it from being taken over
– says Dr Krzysztof Kurosz.
Votes can be cast online on the website of Instytut Dyskursu i Dialogu..