Allens Insight: AI

To assist businesses to make informed decisions about which AI tools to use and for what purposes, international commercial law firm and AFIA Associate Member Allens have conducted an in-depth analysis of the terms and conditions (T&Cs) applicable to a range of commonly used, off-the-shelf generative AI tools from an intellectual property perspective. 

Key takeaways include: 

• While most AI providers now indemnify their users against losses arising from third party IP infringements, those indemnities are generally only made available to users of paid versions of AI tools, and are subject to several important exclusions. 

• All of the T&Cs reviewed contain strict limitations on the AI provider's liability (including, in some cases, even in relation to its IP indemnity obligations), meaning a user may have little potential recourse against a provider for losses resulting from the use of the AI tool. 

• Some, but not all, of the T&Cs acknowledge that the user and not the AI provider owns the IP rights in the outputs generated by the user using the AI tool, but there is not always an assignment provision giving effect to this. Further, as a matter of current Australian law, IP rights may not subsist in such outputs in the first place. 

The Allens Insight in full can be accessed here.