Government to Set Copyright Infringement Standards for AI-Generated Works

'AI Copyright System Improvement Working Group' Launched
Examining Various Issues and Discussing Specific Directions
Concurrent Legal and Institutional Research... Comprehensive Measures to Be Announced by Year-End

The government is seeking policy measures regarding the use of copyrighted works for artificial intelligence (AI) training.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Copyright Commission will launch and hold a meeting of the '2024 AI-Copyright System Improvement Working Group' on the 19th. They will examine various issues such as the disclosure of training data and the legal nature of AI outputs, and discuss specific policy directions. Alongside the 'Study on AI-Copyright Law and System Improvement Measures,' they will prepare comprehensive measures and announce policy directions by the end of the year after collecting public opinions.

Jeon Byeong-geuk, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, stated, "Recently, the European Union has agreed on the final draft of the AI Act, and the United States has ordered the establishment of measures through an executive order, showing that the world is actively responding to copyright issues in the AI era. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism will also listen to voices from businesses and rights holders in the field and seek ways to appropriately balance AI industry development and creators' rights to respond proactively."

Last year, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism also operated the 'AI-Copyright System Improvement Working Group.' Based on this, they published the 'Generative AI-Copyright Guide,' explaining precautions for AI businesses, users, and rights holders when using generative AI and whether AI outputs can be registered for copyright.

This year, to conduct more in-depth discussions, the meetings will be divided into two subcommittees: training and output. The former will cover ▲ securing lawful usage rights for copyrighted works used in AI training ▲ whether to disclose lists of AI training data. The latter will discuss ▲ whether AI outputs should be protected ▲ methods for indicating AI outputs ▲ requirements and scope for copyright registration of AI outputs ▲ criteria for determining copyright infringement of AI outputs. A Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism official said, "Working group members will be assigned to subcommittees, and related experts, businesses, and rights holders will be additionally involved by topic as needed."

In academia, Professor Park Jun-woo of Sogang University Law School, Professor Lee Dae-hee of Korea University Law School, Professor Lee Sang-yong of Konkuk University Law School, Professor Lee Cheol-nam of Chungnam National University Law School, and Professor Choi Jin-won of Daegu University College of Law are listed as members of the working group. In the legal sector, Chief Judge Kwon Chang-hwan of Busan Rehabilitation Court, Judge Han Ji-yoon of the Patent Court, Prosecutor Min Eun-sik of Daejeon District Prosecutors' Office, and Attorney Jeon Eung-jun of Law Firm Lin participate.

Kim Dong-hyun, Secretary General of the Korea Literature and Arts Copyright Association, Kim Sun-ho, Director of the Media Research Center at the Korea Press Foundation, and Hwang Seon-cheol, Director of Business Division 2 at the Korea Music Copyright Association, represent the voices of rights holders. Kim Kyung-hoon, AI Policy Support Director at Kakao, Bae Ji-hoon, Head of KT IPR Legal Team, and Lee Moon-gi, Director at Conan Technology, represent businesses. Yoo Won-young, Head of the Intelligent Content Recognition Research Lab at the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI), participates as an industrial technology expert.