Generative artificial intelligence (AI) describes algorithms that can be used to create new content, including images, audio, video, computer code, and more.
AI is surfacing new intellectual property considerations for professionals in web design and development; for example:
Copyright ownership in AI inputs
Attribution
Copyright ownership in AI outputs
GitHub Copilot, a GenAI model powered by Codex (OpenAI), turns natural language prompts into coding suggestions across dozens of languages, including Python, JavaScript, TypeScript, Ruby, and Go.
It has been trained on natural language text and source code from publicly available sources, including code in public repositories on GitHub.
GitHub contends that training Copilot on public repositories is fair use.
However, a class-action lawsuit filed in 2022 argues that Microsoft (GitHub's parent company) and OpenAI profit from the work of open-source programmers by violating the conditions of their open-source licenses.
Specifically, the lawsuit states that code generated by Copilot does not include any attribution to the original author of the code, copyright notices, or a copy of the license, which most open-source licenses require.
In August 2023, GitHub announced a private beta of GitHub Copilot with code referencing that includes a filter to detect code suggestions matching public code on GitHub.
Reference: Ownership of AI-Generated Code Hotly Disputed. (2022, November 19). IEEE Spectrum.
In late 2021, the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) registered a copyright for a Starry Night-inspired painting titled Suryast.
The copyright registration lists two co-authors – one human, the other an AI painting app – making Suryast the first Canadian copyright registration with an AI author.
Please note that the information provided on this site is for educational purposes and is not intended as legal advice.