AI chatbots may infringe the rights of press publishers when they reproduce protected material in answers, according to an opinion by Maciej Szpunar, an advocate general at the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). The opinion concerns a dispute between Hungarian publisher Like Company and Google over its Gemini chatbot.
Like Company, which operates several news websites, alleges that Gemini reproduced its protected texts and made them publicly available without permission. In one example cited in the case, the chatbot produced a detailed summary of an article about a Hungarian singer’s wish to introduce dolphins to Lake Balaton. A court in Budapest referred questions about EU law to the CJEU; the case will be decided in Hungary in line with the EU court’s guidance.
Szpunar said whether reproduction has occurred may depend on whether the chatbot accessed an article unlawfully, such as by bypassing a paywall. Publishers’ rights do not protect the facts reported in an article, he said, but rather its specific form of expression. The rules are not intended to give publishers a monopoly over news.
The key question, according to the opinion, is whether a chatbot answer recognisably reuses that expression to the extent that readers have no reason to consult the original article. Making material publicly available would generally infringe publishers’ rights if the publication’s expression is systematically recognisable in the answers.
The advocate general’s opinion is not binding on the CJEU, although judges often follow such advice. A ruling is expected in the coming weeks or months.
Szpunar considered two further questions from the Hungarian court about training AI models inadmissible because they were hypothetical: there was no evidence that Like Company’s articles had been used to train Gemini. He also noted that using protected works to train an AI model may be permitted under the EU’s text and data mining exception, which allows automated analysis of texts and data under certain conditions.
Sources: Der Spiegel.