What are the Copyright Implications of Using AI to Develop Standards?

Director Ivy Clarice Estoesta spoke on the panel “What are the Copyright Implications of Using AI to Develop Standards?” during the American National Standards Institute (ANSI)’s 2023 Legal Issues Forum: Copyright Implications in a Changing Landscape on October 12, 2023. This event was part of ANSI’s World Standards Week 2023, hosted in-person in Washington, DC and virtually.

ANSI’s 2023 Legal Issues Forum (LIF) focused on two hot topics for the standards community: the copyright implications of incorporating standards by reference into legislation (IBR) and the copyright implications of using AI in standards (and standards in AI). The LIF drew upon a broad group of legal experts, standards professionals, corporate leaders, and other stakeholders interested in the intersection of copyright, innovation, and standardization. Cary Coglianese, University of Pennsylvania professor of law and political science and director of the Penn Program on Regulation, provided the keynote remarks.

Panel Overview

What unique legal issues are raised by the intersection of copyright and AI—and who, if anyone, owns the copyright of AI-generated content? This panel explored the potential perils of feeding standards content into AI tools and engines, as well as the opportunities of using generative AI to create content for standards. The session also explored how standards developing organizations are currently using AI-generated content and how they can protect copyright in AI-generated content used in standards development.