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16/10/2025 - AI Coding Assistants: Legal Risks and Best Practices (USA) Who Owns AI-Generated Code? A Legal Analysis (USA)

argument: Notizie/News - Legal Informatics

Source: Baker Donelson

The law firm Baker Donelson issues a cautionary alert to developers and companies utilizing AI-powered coding assistants, urging them to consider the significant legal ramifications. While these tools can dramatically increase productivity, they also introduce complex issues related to intellectual property ownership, data security, and software licensing. A primary concern is that AI coding tools are often trained on vast repositories of public code, including code governed by restrictive open-source licenses. If an AI tool suggests a block of code derived from a "copyleft" license like the GPL, incorporating it into a proprietary software product could inadvertently obligate the company to release its own source code to the public.

The article also raises questions about the ownership of the code generated by the AI. The legal status of AI-authored works is still an unsettled area of law, and it may not be clear whether the user, the AI provider, or anyone at all holds the copyright to the output. This ambiguity can create significant problems for protecting a company's intellectual property. Furthermore, feeding proprietary or confidential code into a public AI tool as a prompt could lead to data leakage, as that information might be absorbed into the AI model and potentially exposed to other users. The firm recommends implementing strict internal policies, conducting due diligence on AI tool providers, and carefully reviewing all AI-generated code to mitigate these substantial legal and business risks.