Managing Copyright Risk in AI-Generated Content

When your business or organization uses generative AI systems to create content, the output could infringe copyrighted works. This creates risk for you, not just the AI developer.

Across the world, copyright holders including authors, news outlets, and visual artists are taking legal action against AI developers, alleging that these companies used copyrighted works to train AI models without permission or compensation.

Why does this matter to organizations that use AI rather than build it? Because a model trained on copyrighted material could produce outputs that infringe copyright. If you use that output, whether it is marketing copy, training materials, a logo, code, or a research summary, your organization could be infringing copyright.

Here is what you can do:

Tool selection: Decide which AI tools your organization will use and make them official. Without this, people may use free or unvetted tools that fall outside your governance, potentially putting the organization at risk. Where possible, choose vendors that offer copyright indemnification (typically only on enterprise or commercial plans). Keep in mind that the indemnification comes with exclusions and limitations, and it does not replace the steps below.

Inputs: Do not enter copyrighted material into AI systems without the rights holder's permission.

Human review of outputs: Define when review is required, what it involves, and who is responsible. Specify the reasonable checks staff should use to identify potential infringement before AI-generated content is published, sold, or distributed. Examples include reverse image search tools, plagiarism checkers, design registries, and registered copyright searches.

Prompting limits: Do not use prompts that ask AI systems to generate text, images, or music in the style of specific copyrighted works, brands, or named creators.

Capture all of this in an AI use policy, and back up the policy with staff training. Help people understand the risks and how to apply the policy in their day-to-day work.

These steps can help you reduce the risk of copyright infringement. They work best as part of a broader approach to managing how AI is used across your organization.

Book a free consultation to discuss where to start.