Google has committed to protecting users of generative artificial intelligence (AI) systems on its Google Cloud and Workspace platforms against intellectual property (IP) violation claims. This aligns Google with other tech industry giants, including Microsoft and Adobe, who have also vowed to support their users in similar situations.

Significant investments in generative AI have been made by leading tech companies like Google, and they have worked diligently to seamlessly integrate this technology into their product offerings. Notably, a series of legal cases has arisen in which well-known authors, illustrators, and copyright holders allege that their work was used to train AI systems, and that the content generated by these systems infringes on their IP rights.

A Google spokesperson emphasized that to the best of their knowledge, Google is the pioneer in the industry to provide a comprehensive, two-pronged approach to indemnity, addressing both categories of IP claims.

Google's new policy applies to software applications, including its Vertex AI development platform and the Duet AI system, which generates text and images within Google Workspace and Cloud applications. Notably, Google's widely recognized generative AI chatbot program, Bard, was not explicitly mentioned in the official announcement.

However, Google's commitment to indemnity has limitations and will not cover cases where users intentionally create or use generated content with the intent to infringe upon the rights of others.

It's important to note that the recent rise in legal actions related to generative AI has primarily targeted the companies responsible for owning and developing these systems, such as Google, rather than individual end users. Defendants in AI-related disputes argue that using training data collected from the internet falls within the fair use provisions of U.S. copyright law.