Microsoft to cover customers' AI copyright lawsuits
US tech giant will compensate Copilot users for legal damages arising from generative AI claims | Move comes amid growing concerns related to the potential for IP infringement lawsuits arising from generative AI.
Microsoft will take responsibility for any potential legal risks and damages arising from copyright infringement claims incurred by users of their Copilot programme.
The tech giant revealed its Copilot Copyright Commitment, yesterday, September 7, which is aimed at addressing customer concerns regarding IP infringement claims associated with the use and outputs of generative AI tools.
The coverage applies specifically to paid versions of Microsoft's commercial Copilot services, including Microsoft 365 Copilot and GitHub Copilot.
Specifically, if a third party initiates a copyright infringement lawsuit against a customer for their use of Microsoft's Copilots or the output they generate, Microsoft will step in to defend the customer and cover the costs of any adverse judgments or settlements.
The development comes amid growing concerns related to the potential for IP infringement lawsuits arising from generative AI.
However, Microsoft has set specific conditions for this program, acknowledging the potential for its technology to be intentionally misused to generate harmful content.
Brad Smith, vice chair and president, and Hossein Nowbar, corporate vice president and chief legal officer, said:
“We believe in standing behind our customers when they use our products. If their use creates legal issues, we should make this our problem rather than our customers’ problem.”
However, this support is contingent on customers adhering to the guardrails and content filters built into Microsoft's products.
Microsoft take action
The tech giant added that this latest offering comes as part of its ongoing efforts to ensure customers can harness the power of AI without fear of legal repercussions.
“Some customers are concerned about the risk of IP infringement claims if they use the output produced by generative AI,” said Smith and Nowbar.
Microsoft’s initiative coincides with action taken by authors and artists who have railed against the use of their work for allegedlly training AI models and services.
Under the Copilot Copyright Commitment, Microsoft confirmed that “customers must use the content filters and other safety systems built into the product and must not attempt to generate infringing materials”.
To address copyright concerns, Microsoft said it has incorporated essential guardrails into its Copilots, including filters and other technologies designed to reduce the likelihood of returning infringing content.
These measures build upon Microsoft's work in protecting digital safety, security, and privacy through classifiers, metaprompts, content filtering, and operational monitoring, according to the statement.
Microsoft’s announcement comes in the wake of the recent launch of a notice of an inquiry and request for comments on copyright and generative AI by the US Copyright Office.
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