The intellectual property questions raised by generative AI are not yet fully settled. They are, however, urgent — every company with a website is now creating, using, or licensing AI-generated content, and the rules are being written in real time.
The starting question is who owns AI-generated output. The current state in most jurisdictions is that purely AI-generated work without meaningful human authorship is not copyrightable. Work that involves substantial human authorship is — but the line between the two is contested.
Ownership of AI Output
Our advice to clients is to document the human contribution to any AI-assisted work that matters. Prompts, edits, selection criteria — these are evidence that becomes critical if ownership is ever challenged.
Training Data and Infringement
The infringement question — whether models trained on copyrighted material produce infringing output — is being litigated globally. Outcomes will vary by jurisdiction and use case. We don't expect a clean resolution any time soon.
In the meantime, clients should understand which models they're using, what their providers' indemnification terms cover, and whether their use case is in a category where litigation risk is concentrated.
Licensing in Practice
Licensing AI-generated content in or out is a contractual exercise that's evolving fast. Standard form licenses written before generative AI often don't address it cleanly. We routinely update client templates to address representations about training data, ownership of output, and allocation of indemnification.
If your standard agreements predate 2023, they almost certainly need an update.
What to Do Now
There are three things every company using AI should do this quarter: inventory the AI tools in use across the business, review the contractual terms covering each, and update internal policies to reflect what employees can and cannot use AI for.
These are not exotic exercises. They are basic IP hygiene. Companies that wait for the law to settle before doing them will find themselves with a much bigger cleanup later.
