Copyright and copyleft in the age of artificial intelligence: technological scenarios and regulatory responses.

This article offers a comprehensive legal analysis of the intricate relationship between Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI), copyright, and copyleft, framed within recent regulatory and technological developments. Following a clear overview of the main generative AI models and their technical features, the author addresses key legal questions:

• Authorship of AI-generated works: under current law, AI cannot be deemed an author due to its lack of legal personhood and creative intent. Therefore, fully AI-generated outputs are considered public domain unless significantly altered by a human creator.
• Copyright infringement risks: generative AI may infringe third-party rights during both the output phase (e.g., unlicensed derivative works) and the training phase, when datasets contain protected content.
• Copyleft and AI compatibility: training AI on open-source or copyleft data raises questions about whether the AI's outputs must also comply with those licenses.
• Italian and EU legal frameworks: the article analyzes the proposed Italian AI legislation and the EU AI Act, emphasizing transparency obligations, opt-out systems for data use, and the development of ethical codes of conduct to ensure copyright compliance.
• Looking ahead: the author calls for flexible and adaptive regulation that safeguards creativity while supporting technological progress, acknowledging the blurred boundaries between machine-generated content and human authorship.

A highly relevant contribution for legal professionals, policymakers, and innovators navigating the evolving legal landscape of AI and intellectual property Visualizza il documento allegato