Legal Aspects for Software Developers Interested in Generative AI Applications
Steffen Herbold, Brian Valerius, Anamaria Mojica-Hanke, Isabella Lex, Joel Mittel
TL;DR
This paper investigates legal liabilities for software developers using GenAI, focusing on data protection (GDPR) and copyright/licensing risks. It adopts a use-case-driven analysis distinguishing GenAI models (weights) and GenAI applications (services) under EU and US regimes, and derives practical lessons for developers. Key contributions include five actionable lessons on consent, legitimate interest, data subject rights, licenses, and copyleft considerations, plus discussion of model memorization and data-mining exemptions. The findings provide concrete guidance to mitigate liability when integrating GenAI into products, with emphasis on safeguarding personal data, ensuring license compliance, and navigating evolving regulatory interpretations.
Abstract
Recent successes in Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) have led to new technologies capable of generating high-quality code, natural language, and images. The next step is to integrate GenAI technology into products, a task typically conducted by software developers. Such product development always comes with a certain risk of liability. Within this article, we want to shed light on the current state of two such risks: data protection and copyright. Both aspects are crucial for GenAI. This technology deals with data for both model training and generated output. We summarize key aspects regarding our current knowledge that every software developer involved in product development using GenAI should be aware of to avoid critical mistakes that may expose them to liability claims.