Am I allowed to inject content that does not belong to me into a generative AI tool?

It is possible to inject personalized inputs (reference images, etc.) into a generative artificial intelligence (AI) tool in order to use it as a basis to create new content, or for retouching work. But is it legal?

The right to reproduce content protected by copyright is the exclusive prerogative of the rights holders, that is to say: if you have not obtained permission to reproduce a content, you do not have the right to inject it into a generative AI tool. If you thought you could invoke the exception for private copying (non-commercial use), be careful, because injecting protected content into a generative AI tool has consequences: such as allowing the generative AI tool to train on the injected content;

Therefore, the exception for private copying is unlikely to be applicable.

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Therefore, even without commercial purposes, it is illegal to inject protected content that does not belong to you, without authorization, into a generative AI tool.

Copyright is not the only limit: by injecting non-clean content without authorization, there is a risk of violating confidentiality, business secrecy, the protection of personal data or privacy.

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How do you protect yourself?

Be sure to seek the necessary permissions to inject non-clean content into the generative AI tools you use. These authorizations must come from rights holders, they are from persons legally authorized to authorize you to use the content.

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In the absence of authorization, especially for textual content, be sure to ensure the confidentiality of the content that you inject into generative AI tools in order not to infringe business secrecy, the protection of personal data or the privacy of individuals.

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The article has been written by Betty Jeulin and the English translation generated with AI.