AI and Copyright Survey Report

Abstract

A survey of members of IFLA’s Copyright and Other Legal Matters Advisory Committee member demonstrates a still-fragmented legislative landscape around copyright and generative AI. While some have moved quickly to create laws, others prefer to wait and see, or to use other areas of legislation to address identified problems. This also reflects the different nature of the debate form one country to the next.

There is a tension too between the weakness of (copyright) legislation as a tool for addressing complex issues, but also the frustration of libraries at not having clear guidance about what they can and cannot do. Better guidance (as well as limitations on liability) as well as a more strategic choice of areas and forms of law may offer a way forwards.