Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming many sectors, especially industries, and Europe is trying to stay at the lead of this revolution by regulating its impact. The Artificial Intelligence Act (AI Act), adopted on July 12, 2024, marks a major legislative milestone in the European regulation of AI technologies. Although its main aim is to show the different categories of risks associated with AI, we must take a closer look at the impact of this act on Intellectual Property, a field that is increasingly affected by AI developments.
In the first place, the primary objective of the AI Act is only based on the classifications of AI systems regarfing their risk levels, going from unacceptable risk to minimal risk. However, as AI technologies evolved with the rise of large language models (LLMs), the European Union (EU) wanted to introduce measures to protect creators’ copyright. Therefore, AI providers should now comply with the act’s requirements such as transparency about the data used to train their systems and compliance with copyright legislation.
One of the major innovations of this regulation according to intellectual property is the introduction of the opt-out right. This insertion enables creators to object to the use of their works in the training of AI systems. This includes any type of creation like texts, images and, to a lesser extent, musical works. This is especially important for addressing concerns around data mining and the use of Big data. However, although this measure seems to protect entirely creators, it does have its limitations, particularly when it comes to ways of expressing this refusal. For example, it is difficult for a musician to indicate that he does not wish his music to be used for AI training, since he cannot simply affix a statement or logo to a music.
The Act places the burden of protection on creators, which is controversial. Creators should be automatically protected against the use of their works and not being obliged to refuse to it. In addition, the lack of a uniform procedure makes it difficult for creators to ensure that their work is adequately protected across the vast range of platforms and AI systems. Furthermore, another concern is that, while the AI Act introduces these new measures, vast amounts of data have already been shared. What about these data?
While the AI Act constitutes an important step in regulating the intersection of AI and Intellectual Property, there are still many gaps. The opt-out right is an important attempt to protect creators, but its implementation in the field is still complicated, especially for creators of musical works and other intangible forms of intellectual property.
At present, the law, as it stands, is not sufficiently strong to ensure that the rights of creators are fully shielded in the fast growing AI landscape. As a result, as AI continues to develop, further legal adjustments should inevitably be made. The future of copyright in the AI era will and should undoubtedly be adjusted by ongoing debates and technological advancements.
Sources:
https://www.unified-patent-court.org/en/registry/opt-out
Etudiante en Master 2 Droit de l’économie numérique (2024-2025).
