A friend or a foe? The effect of generative artificial intelligence on creator contributions on original work sharing platforms

Abstract

While generative artificial intelligence (GAI) is increasingly used to create content, it is often criticized for collecting and training private data and induces potential copy infringement issue. This dilemma leaves a question of whether GAI increases or decreases creators' work sharing. Drawn on protection motivation theory, this study examines how the launch of a GAI system affects creators' contributions on an original work sharing platform. We discover that GAI poses a threat to drawing-category creators, leading to a significant crowding-out effect on their contributions. Specifically, compared with that of non-drawing-category creators, the work sharing of drawing-category creators decreases by 19.64 % and 14.29 % within a short period after the launch and removal of the GAI system, respectively. We discover that creators' protective behavior is driven by GAI-related copyright infringement. Compared with creators without copyright protection, those with copyright protection are more inclined to cease contributions or even leave the platform. We further find that among copyright-protected creators, top creators, evidenced by their acquisition of a large number of supporters or platform honor titles, exhibit more pronounced responses to protect their works due to their higher coping efficacy. Notably, this threat reduces creators' sharing behavior or even lead to their exit from the platform. Nevertheless, such reduction is likely to gradually recover once the threat subsides. Overall, our findings have important implications for whether and how platform managers adopt GAI systems, especially in an original work sharing context.