If you are looking for free resources for your business, using public domain properties might be a great way to get started! Tips and ideas for using AI to collect quotes fast!
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My Public Domain Journey
I love being about to use and talk about public domain images and books to make new art or content in my business!
Here are a few ways that I use public domain to make awesome things for my peeps!
- Alice In Wonderland Vintage Free Printables
- Business Quotes and Inspiration as a content page that ranks on Google
- Making oodles of freebies for my peeps using public domain images
- Using AI and public domain artists to make free graphics to use on social media
Functionally I am a public domain junky who is passionate about copyright and making sure that I stay on the right side of history!
What Is Public Domain?
If you are new to public domain make sure to get your head around what it is!
Public domain means that IP (Intellectual Property) that is older than a certain time period is free for anyone to use! In the US things come out of copyright 70 years after the death of the author.
Now you may be confused… what the heck is Intellectual Property? Well it is books, pictures, audio, visual, really anything that is created by human creativity.
Here is a good article about public domain from the Stanford Libraries if you want to learn more!
AI and the Public Domain
This article is going to talk about how to use public domain quotes and AI in your commercial works legally and ethically.
I KNOW there is a huge hub-bub about how AI has been trained on non-public domain works and there are loads of cases in the courts right now, but there is an ethical use of AI to find public domain quotes fast and easy!
DISCLAIMER… while I am a rabid consumer of public domain info, I am not a lawyer so make sure you are educating yourself about how to use public domain legally in your business!
How To Use AI To Find Public Domain Quotes
I use the paid version of ChatGPT so all my examples will be based on the GPT-4 version, your results may vary depending on which version you are using.
Think About The Fun Things In Your Business
If you are using public domain quotes in your business you are going to have to get creative to make them relevant and interesting to consumers.
For example, you wouldn't ask Chat for quotes about veterinary practices… first off that would be pretty boring AND you wouldn't find much.
Instead you would ask about dogs, cats, horses, cows, animals, etc.
If you are a Realtor don't ask about real estate, ask about houses, home, family, holidays, gathering, maybe renovation… you would have to dig down into that!
Writing A Basic Prompt
The old phrase, garbage in garbage out, definitely applies to using AI! After all, AI is just a computer program that is regurgitating information.
As people we are capable of getting it to do more complex things depending on the prompts we give it!
But let's start with a super simple prompt: Please give me 10 public domain quotes about dogs
Here is what chat gave me! See any problems there?
So if this was my business and I was looking at this with a critical eye I could immediately see that a quote by Charles de Gualle is valid as public domain, but what about that number 3 quote there… the one by Johnny Depp.
OBVIOUSLY Johnny Depp is a contemporary person and his words are NOT in the public domain for use commercially so I would NOT use that quote for my business.
One way to think about this is WHY are you using a quote… are you using it for something creative that you are adding to or are you simply trying to capitalize on current popular things like illegally using Disney characters on commercial products!
Testing Public Domain Validity
So in the full list of quotes chat gave me I have the following people: Roger Caras, Josh Billings, Mark Twain and Aldous Huxley.
The next thing I always do is check and see if they are old dead people or if they are contemporary people who would not qualify to be in the public domain.
I use an amazing tool called Google to test this…ha! I simply do a search for “is Mark Twain in the public domain” and poof, I find out that he IS in the public domain and from a super credible source, The Mark Twain Foundation .org website!
Writing Better Prompts
Thus far we have just put in a basic prompt, but what if we wanted to get all crazy and try to find super fun and interesting quotes… let's try that!
Here is a quote that is more specific: Please find 10 uplifting public domain quotes about home from women writers for my real estate business
So first off, always check because I was astounded to know that Laura Ingalls Wilder passed in 1957… not that long ago and not public domain!
And if you are a woman, just know that most women were “quotable” in the way back so you are going to struggle to get good quotes!
That said, we got 3 really good quotes a real estate agent could use in their marketing!
Using AI to find public domain anything is always going to require that you check!
Working Backwards With Your Prompts
Right about now you might be frustrated thinking that we did all that work and maybe got 3 quotes we can use thus far… fair!
So one way I do this a bit easier is to start with a story teller in the public domain and then work backwards.
For example, I love Winnie the Pooh and the original story is now in the public domain! YAY!
So I could use this prompt to ask Chat for quotes: Please give 10 AA Milne or Winnie The Pooh public domain quotes about friendship
That gave me a much better mix of quotes that I know I can use without having to fret!
Now, Chat gave me a warning about Pooh maybe being in the public domain because it is a year and half behind and Milne was NOT in the public domain at the time it stopped thinking about things.
Which leads me to some Frequently Asked Questions I get about AI, ChatGPT and public domain!
Public Domain Quotes and AI FAQs
Doesn't It Take More Time Because You Have To Check ChatGPT So Much?
I have been doing quotes for years and even paid a gal to help me find them at one time. I can tell you in all sincerity that checking ChatGPT is much easier than going out and finding quotes all by yourself!
Fluffy Facebook Posts or Huge Production Runs
Now let's get back to the legal side of this all! If I was using a quote in a Fluffy Facebook post I would still take a look and try to verify that it was in the public domain.
BUT if I was going to be ordering a huge production run of products with a high cost I would for sure contact a copyright lawyer and get their sign off on the validity of the “public-domain-ness” of the quote before I spent a dime!
Can Chat Write New Public Domain Quotes
If you are like me and just want fun sayings to use in your work, ChatGPT is great at that!
Here is a prompt that would have a bit more fun to it: hi chat! please give me 10 witty and funny quotes about very good dogs that are in the public domain
As with all thing Chat, die hard purists might say that these are not “legal” because Chat was trained on people, but until the courts sort it out I will be using fun sayings like this in my freebies!
Use AI To Get Public Domain Quotes For Commercial Use Wrapup
Because AI is so new there is definitely a bit of back and forth that will have to go on before we know exactly how it is going to work best for commercial use!
I personally am going to keep checking everything Chat says and making sure that I know that what I am using is either truly in the public domain or that it is fluffy AI generated sayings.
One thing that we still have over AI is huge dose of common sense that should help us to stay out of trouble along the way as long as we are trying our best to stay within copyright laws!
