Microsoft to Protect Customers from AI Legal Action

Microsoft will protect customers using its generative AI-powered Copilot program from copyright infringement lawsuits. It is an attempt to ease apprehension about the risk of IP claims.

General counsel for corporate legal affairs and corporate secretary at Microsoft, Hossein Nowbar,  wrote in a blog that if a third party sues a commercial customer for copyright infringement for using Copilot or the output they generate, it will defend them. Microsoft will pay the amount of any judgments or settlements related to lawsuits as long as the customer uses the guardrails and content filters we have built into their products.

He noted such protections are included to help adhere to copyrights. “We are charging our commercial customers for our Copilot and if their use creates legal issues, we should make this our problem rather than our customers’”. The program extends existing Microsoft IP indemnification coverage. Its Bing Chat Enterprise product is also covered by the scheme. Microsoft asserted there is concern over a lack of clarity about which source code or open language is being used as information is gathered by generative AI chatbots.