Creative commons licenses and copyright may not stop academic work being used to train AI

The backlash from researchers whose work has been used to train large language models (LLMs) has re-opened questions around how scholarly works are licensed and the merits of open licenses. Considering the legal standing of open creative commons licenses and conventional copyright, Martin Paul Eve suggests legal protections for academic work are unlikely to be forthcoming.

Institutions

Publication Details

Journal
Knowledge Commons (Lakehead University)
Published
2025-11-24
DOI
https://doi.org/10.17613/q2bme-4y406
Primary Topic
Law, AI, and Intellectual Property
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00
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article

Creative commons licenses and copyright may not stop academic work being used to train AI

Knowledge Commons (Lakehead University)
Law, AI, and Intellectual Property
article

Creative commons licenses and copyright may not stop academic work being used to train AI

article en

Abstract

The backlash from researchers whose work has been used to train large language models (LLMs) has re-opened questions around how scholarly works are licensed and the merits of open licenses. Considering the legal standing of open creative commons licenses and conventional copyright, Martin Paul Eve suggests legal protections for academic work are unlikely to be forthcoming.

Knowledge Commons (Lakehead University)
Michigan State University (US), Birkbeck, University of London (GB)
Openalex Percentile: Top 22%
Law, AI, and Intellectual Property
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Creative commons licenses and copyright may not stop academic work being used to train AI · Knowledge Commons (Lakehead University) (2025) | TGRS Research Map | TGRS