Legal Issues In Generative AI Under Japanese Law – Copyright

1. Introduction

Recently, generative AI ("GenAI")¹ has become a major topic of discussion around the world, and Japan is no exception. GenAI can increase human productivity greatly, but there are legal issues involved in its development and use that individuals, and businesses in particular, should understand. As such issues are vast,² given the wide ranging impacts of GenAI, this series of newsletters will focus on one area of Japanese law at a time, beginning with copyright-related issues.

2. Four Stages of Generative AI Use

Copyright infringement issues arise when using someone else's work as "training data³" or "prompts,⁴" or when AI-generated material resembles someone else's work. Appropriate exploration of such copyright issues requires separate examination of GenAI's four stages of use: