ChatGPT: what the law says about who owns the copyright of AI-generated content.

Byline: Sercan Ozcan

The AI chatbot ChatGPT produces content that can appear to have been created by a human. There are many proposed uses for the technology, but its impressive capabilities raise important questions about ownership of the content.

UK legislation has a definition for computer-generated works. Under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 they are 'generated by computer in circumstances such that there is no human author of the work'. The law suggests content generated by an artificial intelligence (AI) can be protected by copyright. However, the original sources of answers generated by AI chatbots can be difficult to trace - and they might include copyrighted works.

The first question is whether ChatGPT should be allowed to use original content generated by third parties to generate its responses. The second is whether only humans can be credited as the authors of AI-generated content, or whether the AI itself can be regarded as an author - particularly when that output is creative.

Let's deal with question one. The technology underpinning ChatGPT is known as a Large Language Model (LLM). In order to improve at what it does, it is exposed to large data-sets, including vast numbers of websites and books.

At the moment, the UK allows AI developers to pursue text and data mining (TDM), but only for non-commercial purposes. OpenAI's terms of use assign to the users 'all its right, title and interest in the output'.

But the company says it's up to users to ensure the way they use that content does not violate any laws. The terms and conditions are also subject to change, so do not carry the stability and force of a legal right such as copyright.

The only solution will be to clarify laws and policies. Otherwise, every organisation will have to take legal action individually, aiming to show that they own the works used by an AI. Furthermore, if governments do not take an action then we are approaching a situation where all copyrighted materials will be used by others without the original author's consent.

Question of ownership

Now to question two: who can claim copyright to AI-generated content. In the absence of a claim by the owner of original content used to generate an answer, it's possible that copyright to the output from an chatbot could lie with individual users or the companies that developed the AI.

Copyright law is based around a general principle that only content created by human beings can be protected. The...