EU softens AI copyright rules
Amid European legal shifts, developers of general-purpose AI models are finding clearer ground, as the latest draft of the EU AI Act’s copyright guidelines embraces practicality and proportionate enforcement.

The latest draft of the EU AI Act’s Code of Practice offers a more flexible approach to copyright rules, focusing on proportionate compliance based on a provider’s size and capabilities.
However, this change comes as model providers face looming deadlines under the Act.
AI Developers must still avoid training on pirated content, respect opt-outs like robots.txt, and make reasonable efforts to prevent models from repeating copyrighted material.
However, they are no longer expected to perform exhaustive copyright checks on every dataset.
With potential fines of up to 15 million euros or 3% of global turnover, stakes remain high. Still, stakeholders welcome the clearer, more practical path to compliance, with final feedback on the draft due by the end of this month.
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