Microsoft to Protect Its AI-Using Customers From Copyright Lawsuits

Microsoft said it would protect buyers of its artificial intelligence products from copyright lawsuits by introducing the Copilot Copyright Commitment.

This initiative aims to shield customers from potential infringement lawsuits for using the company’s AI-powered Copilots made for content generation based on existing works.

Hossein Nowbar, General Counsel, Corporate Legal Affairs and Corporate Secretary at Microsoft, stated in a blog post that customers will be protected under the condition that they have employed the content filters and guardrails integrated into the products. 

Additionally, Microsoft has pledged to cover any related fines or settlements while ensuring that its Copilots adhere to copyright regulations.

Microsoft New Copilot Copyright Commitment

Microsoft’s Copilots have introduced a transformative shift in the way it works. However, this progress has raised concerns among some customers regarding potential intellectual property claims associated with the use of this AI tool. 

To address these apprehensions, Microsoft has established the Copilot Copyright Commitment. This commitment guarantees customers the freedom to use Microsoft’s Copilot services and their generated content without fear of copyright disputes. 

In the event of a third-party lawsuit for copyright infringement, Microsoft will take on the legal responsibilities, provided the customer has utilized the integrated content filters and guardrails.

This commitment builds upon Microsoft’s existing support for intellectual property indemnity. It extends to commercial Copilot services and reinforces its longstanding philosophy of protecting customers against legal complications arising from the use of its products.

Microsoft acknowledges the authors’ concerns and believes they should shoulder the responsibility of addressing them. They emphasize the importance of authors retaining control over their rights under copyright law while receiving fair compensation for their creations.

The company also stresses the need to ensure that the data used to train AI models remains accessible and doesn’t become monopolized by a select few, which could hinder competition and innovation.

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Microsoft Safety Measures Against Copyright Infringement

Microsoft has implemented safety measures within its Copilots to further uphold copyright concerns. These include filters and other technologies designed to minimize the likelihood of returning infringing content. 

The Copilot Copyright Commitment emphasizes the necessity for customers to use these technologies, creating a mutual incentive for copyright respect.

This commitment extends to paid versions of Microsoft’s commercial Copilot services and Bing Chat Enterprise, including Microsoft 365 Copilot and GitHub Copilot. It covers a wide range of applications, from document transformation to streamlined coding for developers.

However, it’s important to note that customers must adhere to specific conditions, and this includes using the built-in content filters and safety systems and refraining from generating infringing materials.

“There are important conditions to this program, recognizing that there are potential ways that our technology could intentionally be misused to generate harmful content. To protect against this, customers must use the content filters and other safety systems built into the product and must not attempt to generate infringing materials, including not providing input to a Copilot service that the customer does not have appropriate rights to use,” Microsoft’s blog post reads.

“This new benefit doesn’t change Microsoft’s position that it does not claim any intellectual property rights in the outputs of its Copilot services,” it added.

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