SLATE V – Generative AI and Copyright: Understanding Infringement and Fair Use

Today, rapid advancements in AI capabilities to create literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works continue to redefine the human role in the creative process. Most of these works generated by computers rely heavily on the underlying algorithm and the input of millions of authorial works to train the AI system.

Generative AI applications such as ChatGPT, DALL·E and Stable Diffusion are presenting new scenarios that can be confounding to copyright lawyers as well as judges and policymakers. In SLATE V (Seminars on LAw and TEchnology series) on 22 November 2023, Professor David Tan discusses whether existing copyright doctrines can adequately address these issues and to what extent the Singapore Copyright Act 2021 is equipped to deal with these challenges. The seminar covers: (i) copyright infringement in both the input of works to train generative AI and the AI output in response to human prompts and commands; (ii) how the computational data analysis exception and open-ended fair use provision are likely to apply to these scenarios.

The SLATE series, launched in April 2021, aims to bring academic papers to life in an interactive discussion forum where the authors would present salient points of their publication and engage in dialogue with the legal community.

Titled “Generative AI and Copyright: Understanding Infringement and Fair Use”, SLATE V attracted an audience of about fifty, comprising senior lawyers from firms such as Drew & Napier, Rajah & Tann Singapore, WongPartnership and Allen & Gledhill. The articles are published in two parts in SAL Practitioner: ‘Generative AI and Copyright – Part 1: Copyright Infringement’ [2023] SAL Practitioner 24; and ‘Generative AI and Copyright – Part 2: Computational Data Analysis Exception and Fair Use’ [2024] SAL Practitioner 25.

(L-R) Steve Tan (Deputy Head (TMT) & Partner, Rajah & Tann Singapore), Prof David Tan, Rajesh Sreenivasan (Head (TMT) & Partner, Rajah & Tann Singapore)

(L-R) Regina Quek (Director, One Legal LLC), Prof David Tan, Tony Yeo (Managing Director (IP), Drew & Napier)

Prof David Tan kicks off SLATE V with an introduction to the key industry players

Afzal Ali (Partner, Allen & Gledhill)

A rapt audience trying to understand why the US Copyright Office denied registration to an AI-generated work

Prof David Tan discussing fair use

The seminar in session at the NUS Bukit Timah Campus

Prof Kelvin Low (NUS Law)

Peter Schoppert (Director, NUS Press) poses a question

(L-R) Tony Yeo (Managing Director (IP), Drew & Napier), Lam Chung Nian (Head (IP, Technology & Data) & Partner, WongPartnership), Lau Kok Keng (Head (IP, Sports & Gaming) & Partner, Rajah & Tann Singapore)