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Using generative AI tools without understanding the copyright risks can have serious, unintended consequences.
As the Copyright Act 1968 does not currently allow for using copyright materials in generative AI tools, it is the responsibility of all ACU students and staff to ensure that their use of AI tools is ethical and complies with existing laws. Consideration must be given to both the AI tool being used and whether you have the right or permission to use the copyright material in AI.
Artificial intelligence is a dynamic and changing environment. Please check this page regularly for updates.
Contact ACU's Copyright Coordinator at [email protected] if you have specific use questions.
The type of AI tool you are using is significant when it comes to copyright. There are two main types of AI tools: Public and Enterprise.
Public AI tools are open to everyone and are usually free, although they now often require an account or subscription. Some examples of public AI tools are ChatGPT, Claude, Midjourney and Google Gemini.
Public AI tools generally use any materials added or uploaded by users for training the AI model – always check the Terms of Service before using. Some public AI tools will allow users to opt out of AI training, however this does not remove the copyright issues of uploading materials.
The outputs or materials generated by public AI tools are unlikely to be eligible for copyright protection.
Enterprise AI tools are not publicly available. They operate in a secure and protected environment within companies, are loaded with the company's proprietary data, and accessible only with a company logon.
Content and data that is uploaded into an enterprise AI is kept within the protected enterprise environment. It is not sent back to the AI company for use as training data but there is still the potential for these uploads to show up in the results of other users. Enterprise AI tools are always the safer option. ACU's enterprise AI is Copilot.
The copyright of works created by users of enterprise AI tools within a licensed company would likely remain with the company.
As many public AI models retain the information that is shared or uploaded it is advisable to treat public AI models as you would any other public website, and to always keep privacy and data security considerations in mind.
ACU's enterprise Copilot is authorised by the university and provides a higher level of protection for your data and information than a public AI tool.
Do not enter sensitive, confidential or personal information into any AI tool. All identifying information from documents and data must be removed.
Examples include:
Do not upload any ACU student, staff, business or research information into public AI tools. This includes any ACU operational information and intellectual property, as well as student works and research data.
Once the material has been shared in an AI tool it cannot be removed or taken down.
The Terms of Service of a public AI model should always be checked before use so you are aware of what the AI will do with any content that you share with it.
For most of the public AI models, users must confirm (or "warrant") that they either own or have permission from the copyright owner to upload their content to the AI. The users then agree that this uploaded content can be used (sub-licensed) to "modify" and "improve" the model. These terms mean that the AI model will incorporate the uploaded materials back into the model as training data.
If the material you want to upload is third-party copyright material you will need to check the copyright and/or licensing conditions to see if permission is given for AI use. To sublicence copyright materials without permission from the copyright owner is a copyright infringement.
Some public AI models now have the option to turn off the use of prompts and uploads as training data, but these settings may be difficult to locate or only apply for specific uses. Turning the training data option off does not allow you to use third-party copyright materials without permission.
Most AI models will not claim ownership of the outputs. However, some will state in their Terms of Service that the AI must be cited if the output is published, or that the outputs must be for personal use only.
Third-party copyright material refers to any works that were not created by the individual or the company an individual works for. For more information about the types of materials that are protected by copyright see Copyright basics.
There are currently no laws or specific exceptions that apply to the use of third-party copyright material in AI tools, so we must operate within existing rules and laws. This means that permission is required from the copyright owner to use their material in AI tools. This applies to use of third-party copyright materials in both public and enterprise AI tools.
Permissions may take the form of a publisher licence that allows AI use, an open licence or written permission obtained directly from the copyright owner.
The only materials that are considered safe to upload into any AI are:
Materials that are the copyright of ACU include:
It is an infringement of ACU's copyright to upload ACU copyright materials into any public AI tool.
ACU copyright materials may be used with permission in ACU's enterprise Microsoft Copilot only.
Electronic resources that are accessible through ACU Library are supplied subject to licensing conditions which we must abide by. These resources include:
Before using any of the electronic resources available through ACU Library in an AI tool you must check the terms of the licence for each work to see if artificial intelligence use is permitted. Using materials without permission or licence from the copyright owner is both a copyright infringement and a breach of the licence that ACU has purchased, which can have serious financial and reputational consequences.
If permission for AI use is not explicitly given in the licence then these materials must not be used in any AI model. If there are specified conditions for use in AI, such as use in an enterprise-protected environment only, then you must only use the material in ACU's enterprise AI Microsoft Copilot.
Australian copyright law only offers copyright protection for works with a human creator. AI outputs are generally considered to be machine-created works, not human, which means they do not qualify for copyright protection.
In Australia there have been no court cases yet where copyright ownership over AI outputs have been tested.
Whilst there is no legislated requirement to provide attributions for AI-generated outputs, best practice is always to acknowledge and/or reference the generated AI output.
As generative AI models have used copyright protected materials in their training data without having permission to do so, illegal copies of these materials have the potential to show up in the AI outputs. Do not ask AI models to reproduce "in the style of" copyright protected materials, for example, cartoon figures, song lyrics or book chapters. This is unethical, and potentially a copyright infringement depending on how substantially similar the output is to the original.
The prompts you use with an AI are considered the work of your own intellect and creativity. These may be eligible for copyright protection.
Keep records of all your prompts whenever you use AI to create material so that you can demonstrate your human authorship over these materials.
It's important to consider your use of AI when writing up your research with the intent to publish. Authors should always check any conditions around AI usage that their preferred publisher and/or funder may have.
Some publishers will accept submissions that have made use of AI in limited and specific ways. Others do not allow any use at all. Always check that your use of AI complies with publisher policies and ensure that you have the required permission for any reuse of scholarly material in AI tools.
Most research grant funders also have conditions around what AI uses they will allow both in the funding application process and with the research they fund. The National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) and Australian Research Council (ARC) and are two major sources of grant funding and each have policies on the use of generative AI.
Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property (ICIP) must not be uploaded into generative AI applications without the freely given, prior and informed consent of cultural rights holders.
AI systems process and generate data in ways that do not respect cultural protocols and privacy, and can produce content that is inaccurate, out of context and culturally inappropriate.
The following documents should be read in conjunction with advice in this guide:
ACU Library's AI hub provides suggestions of how AI can be used, and guidance about ethical use of AI.
For any further questions about copyright and the use of generative AI tools contact [email protected].