Copyright

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The use of GenAI raises complex questions about copyright:- Who - if anyone - owns the copyright on AI-generated output?

• Does copyright infringement occur when the training data that was used to generate this output contains copyrighted material?
• Can you use copyrighted materials to formulate prompts?

At this moment, it is difficult to provide clear-cut answers to these questions. In 2025, a lawsuit was filed against Anthropic, the company behind the chatbot Claude. The judge ruled that Anthropic had violated copyright by using LibGen as training material. LibGen is a site where, among other things, scientific journals and books can be downloaded for free, whereas normally, they require payment. Had Anthropic properly purchased each individual book or journal, the judge argued, this wouldn't have been a problem.It will take time for legislators and policymakers to keep pace with the latest developments.

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Guidelines

• One should not enter copyrighted materials into GenAI tools.
• Caution must be observed when entering one's own materials into GenAI tools, information may be used to fine-tune the model. In any case, check if there is an option to turn off the usage of your input for training purposes.
• Always acknowledge and cite AI-generated output in one's own work. Referencing conventions are still under development; however, some of the major citation style guides including APA , MLA en Chicago already offer preliminary referencing guidelines on their websites.
• When unsure how to cite AI-generated content, include a note in your work that explains where and how the AI tool was used and which prompts were used to do so.