AI intellectual property: who owns the content AI produces?
AI-generated content is protected by copyright only if a person made creative choices that can be identified. If you type an instruction and publish the result as it comes, your company has, in practice, no exclusive right to enforce. This article is part of our guide to AI in business for SMEs and tackles a question managers ask in almost every training session: "what my team produces with ChatGPT or Claude, is it ours?"
One caveat first: we are not lawyers. What follows is a reading grid for an SME, not legal advice. For high-stakes assets (a brand, a logo, software you sell), have an intellectual property lawyer check it.
Who is the author of AI-generated content?
Under French law only a human being can be an author, and AI has no authorship status. The French Intellectual Property Code protects "works of the mind" (see its article L111-1) provided they are original, meaning they bear the imprint of their creator's personality. That notion comes from case law: it requires free and creative choices made by a person.
The direct consequence: a text, an image or a piece of code produced entirely by a model from a short instruction is likely not to meet that test. No author means no copyright. To our knowledge, there is no French case law yet that squarely settles purely generated content.
What it means for you: if a competitor copies the cover image your team generated in 30 seconds, you will probably have no copyright-based way to stop them.
When does the content become protectable?
It becomes protectable when the human contribution is real and traceable. Having "written the prompt" is not what counts; what counts is what you did before and after the generation. Three situations appear in practice.
- AI as an assistant. You write a 12-page report, the AI rewords three paragraphs and fixes typos. The text remains yours, the originality comes from you.
- AI as a starting point. You generate 15 visual variants, pick one, retouch it, recompose it and add your own text and brand identity. The selection and arrangement can carry your imprint, but the burden of proof is on you.
- AI as sole producer. One instruction, one output, one publication. This is the most fragile case.
The practical point: keep records. Successive versions, review notes, edited source files. In a dispute, whoever claims a right must demonstrate the human creative input.
What do the tools' terms of use say?
Terms of use govern the relationship between you and the vendor, not your rights against third parties. Several vendors state that the outputs are yours, or that they claim no rights over them. That helps: the vendor will not come after you for the text. But it does not create copyright where the law recognises none. "The terms say it's mine" does not mean "I can forbid others from copying it".
Terms vary by plan (free, Team, Enterprise, API) and change often. Three points to check for every tool used in the company:
| Point to check | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Ownership of generated output | Know what the vendor claims or not |
| Use of your data to train the model | Risk of leaking know-how, see AI and data confidentiality |
| Protection if a third party sues | Some business plans offer it, others do not |
Can you use AI content without infringing someone else's work?
The risk exists; it is low for ordinary text and more serious for an image or code that resembles an existing work. A model can reproduce elements close to its training data. If your visual clearly resembles a known artist's illustration, responsibility for publishing it rests with whoever publishes, which is you.
On the vendor side, the EU AI Act (Regulation (EU) 2024/1689, article 53) imposes two obligations on providers of general-purpose AI models: put in place a policy to comply with EU copyright law, including respecting rights holders' reservations (the "opt-out" in article 4 of Directive 2019/790), and publish a summary of the content used for training. According to the European Commission, these obligations have applied since 2 August 2025. They weigh on model providers, not on your SME, but they explain why the topic stays contentious: several lawsuits by rights holders against AI vendors are ongoing.
Three simple habits to limit your exposure:
- Never ask the AI to imitate "in the style of" a named artist or author for commercial use.
- Run a reverse image search on important visuals before publishing.
- For code, put generated snippets through your usual review and check the licence if a block looks copied.
Do you have to disclose AI-generated content?
In some cases yes, and it will get stricter. Article 50 of the AI Act sets transparency obligations, notably to flag synthetic content (images, audio, video) and texts published to inform the public on matters of public interest. The application timeline has been adjusted: check the date in force when you read this. For the general framework, see our article on AI Act compliance for ChatGPT in business.
Beyond the law, a disclosure is often good business practice: a client who discovers on their own that a quote or white paper was generated without review loses trust faster than they would have with an honest mention.
Which rules should you write down in your company?
One short rule that everyone knows beats a 20-page document. Here is what we recommend putting in your company AI policy, and having your AI governance carry:
- A list of approved tools, and only business plans accepted for content meant to be published.
- For each content type (logo, website text, contract, code delivered to a client), the minimum level of human input.
- A ban on entering client documents or trade secrets into an unapproved tool (this is the shadow AI issue).
- Keeping working versions for strategic content.
- A clause in contracts with providers (agencies, freelancers) stating whether they may use AI and how they guarantee the originality of deliverables.
That last point is often forgotten. If you order a website or a visual identity from a provider, ask in writing whether they used generative AI, and what it changes for the assignment of rights.
Frequently asked questions
Does the company own what its employees produce with AI? For protected works, copyright in an employee's creations does not automatically pass to the employer, except in special cases such as software. For non-protectable content, there is simply nothing to own. So add a clause to employment contracts and your AI policy.
Can I register a trademark or logo created by AI? Trademark registration does not depend on copyright; it requires a distinctive and available sign. However, a logo generated without human editing will have no copyright protection, and nothing guarantees it does not resemble an existing sign. Run a prior-rights search before filing.
Can I sell AI-generated code to a client? Yes, but check the contract: you assign only what you have the right to assign. Disclose the use of AI tools, review the code, and check the licences of any reused components.
Do ChatGPT's or Claude's terms give me rights over the results? They govern your relationship with the vendor. They do not create copyright enforceable against third parties. Read them for your specific plan.
An employee pasted a client contract into a free tool. What now? Treat it as a confidentiality incident: identify what was entered, check the account's training settings, inform the person in charge, and revisit usage rules. See AI and data confidentiality.
Can AI "plagiarise" without my knowing? Yes, it is possible, especially for very specific visuals and code. Hence the value of human review and checks before publication.
How GrowthPerf can help
GrowthPerf is a Qualiopi-certified training provider. In our training for SMEs and associations, we cover this topic with concrete cases: what can be published as is, what needs rework, which rules to write. Our AI awareness training for companies covers drafting a usage policy and good habits for generated content. For the basics, you can also browse the glossary: generative AI, LLM, prompt and AI hallucination.
If you want to frame your uses before publishing anything, start with our complete guide to AI in business, then get in touch for a 30-minute discussion about your situation.