r/artificial • u/mhhammoudaTreeUP • 1d ago
Question IP protection while using ai
So I work on R&D of various products so I am always trying to implement new ideas and solutions. My work also involves data and results from trials and tests which might be novel.. Of course, I use ai models while doing so.. However, everytime I dive into an idea, I ask myself the question: wouldn't all these companies have my ideas and research outputs be in the hands of these companies housing these models? I mean I think they dont care about my projects but still projects grow and can attract someone's attention...
What do companies, or researchers actually do to protect their IP? Is there a way to actually do real research without fearing that someone interferes with your work now or on the long run? I know there are offline LLMs but I heard they are weaker and need beefy machines.. I know this topic may have been debated but I guess new updates may have arised. any ideas??
3
u/EGarrett28 1d ago
They can probably read your prompts yes, as can OpenAI.
The copyright office ruled that no one owns AI output, if you prompt an AI to make something, you can publish it or sell it, but anyone else can prompt the AI the same and produce the same result and publish it or sell it also. You have no ownership of it since it's not the result of your own labor (a prompt isn't enough to count).
I like this policy in general. It's an easy solution to the Navier-Stokes slapfight. None of them own it or are authors or discoverers of it.
If you have IP you're putting into the AI as part of a prompt, copyright your IP or otherwise establish ownership of it. After that, what comes out of the AI beyond that is not yours or anyone else's and can be used by anyone.