Use AI Without Violating Intellectual Property Rights: Recommendations for Developers, Users and Content Owners

With expert support from the IT Ukraine Association, Ukraine has developed guidelines to help developers, users, and content owners respect intellectual property rights.

Non-compliance with copyright regulations is increasingly significant in AI, with recent lawsuits by authors highlighting this trend. The AI usage guidelines being developed by the Ministry of Digital Transformation and experts aim to promote responsible use of AI technologies across sectors and provide businesses with tools to prepare for upcoming AI regulation in Ukraine.

The IT Ukraine Association actively contributes to creating safe AI usage tools outlined in the AI Regulatory White Paper for Ukraine. In particular, association experts have helped develop recommendations for using AI in advertising and marketing. Similar guidelines have been prepared for use in journalism and communications, with work ongoing in other key areas.

Copyright infringement is one of the hottest issues in AI. Numerous high-profile lawsuits have been filed by renowned writers, artists and even programmers against tech companies for the improper use of intellectual property. Ordinary AI system users who generate images or text can also risk copyright infringement. To protect both citizens and IT companies from such cases, we’ve compiled guidance on using AI tools without risks,

said Deputy Minister for Digital Transformation Oleksandr Bornyakov.

Experts have gathered recommendations to encourage responsible use of intellectual property when training AI models. Content owners will find information on safeguarding their photos, videos, texts, audio, and other assets from improper use by AI systems.

Key recommendations include the following:

• Refrain from using prompts that reference existing copyrighted material, such as characters from literary works or product or company names.
• Determine who holds the rights to generated content — whether it’s you or the AI system developers. This information is generally provided in the tool’s terms of use.
• Verify the authenticity of texts and images through reverse searches.

Ukraine has taken an important step in the field of intellectual property by becoming one of the first countries to establish a legal framework for objects created by artificial intelligence (AI). Since 1 January 2023, the Law of Ukraine ‘On Copyright and Related Rights’ has established a sui generis framework to protect original works created by computer programs. The Ministry of Economy has contributed to developing recommendations for developers, rights holders, and users to promote responsible AI usage, protect the interests of all parties, and prevent potential rights violations amid AI’s rapid growth in Ukraine,

stated Deputy Minister of Economy of Ukraine Vitaliy Kindrativ.

These guidelines will benefit:

• IT specialists and companies developing AI-based products;
• Authors, including creators of images, photos, videos, audio works and other content owners;
• Users of AI systems;
• Lawyers and other intellectual property specialists.

For more detailed guidelines, please refer to the provided link. These recommendations are intended to help businesses prepare for AI regulation in Ukraine, ensuring the safe and legal use of advanced technologies.

The recommendations were developed by representatives of the Ministry of Digital Transformation, the Ministry of Economy, the Expert Committee on AI Development under the Ministry of Digital Transformation, UkrINTEI, IT Ukraine, the Ukrainian Bar Association, CEDEM, the Department of Intellectual Property and Information Law at the Law Institute of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, the Research Institute of Intellectual Property of the National Academy of Legal Sciences of Ukraine, IAB Ukraine and the All-Ukrainian Advertising Coalition, with the support of the Digital Transformation Support Project funded by USAID and UK Aid. The project partner is the Eastern Europe Foundation. The authors are listed in the recommendations.