showSidebars ==
showTitleBreadcrumbs == 1
node.field_disable_title_breadcrumbs.value ==

AI-IP Interface (Google)

Project Information

The Colloquium, supported by Google, brings together a group of experts—including academics and practitioners—that represents a cross-section of stakeholders implicated at the nexus of AI and intellectual property law. Over three workshops, participants will share their knowledge and experience with a focus on the APAC region and seek to identify a set of salient questions on which impactful research can be conducted. Participants will be invited to submit papers for a special edition of a reputable specialist law journal to provide robust literature on the AI/IP interface to inform the policy debate that is unfolding around the world.

Read the Barun ICT Newsletter May 2025.


Events

1st Asia-Pacific Colloquium on Mapping the AI/IP Interface

On 19 June, CAIDG organised the first colloquium on "Current Issues on AI & Intellectual Property in the Asia-Pacific", convened by Assoc Prof Jason Grant Allen and Assoc Prof Saw Cheng Lim, supported by Google.

Recent developments in AI have raised questions of both a practical and conceptual nature for Intellectual Property (IP) law, especially in light of the unprecedented uptake of Generative AI tools in the last twelve months. This three-part Colloquium is convened to provide experts from industry, academia, and the public sector with a forum to discuss current developments and the issues they raise in a candid and exploratory manner in order to set an agenda for future work.

In particular, the Colloquium aimed to:

  1. Foster evidence-based, forward-thinking, multi-stakeholder dialogue on IP, creativity, and the law in the age of AI more broadly, including creators/rights-holders, data companies, app developers, and others.
  2. Seed a regional community of experts researching and promoting AI-ready legal regimes, with a focus on intellectual property and copyright in particular.
  3. Produce a number of short reports, blog posts, and a journal special issue in a reputable IP or Law & Tech journal.

Building on the first exploratory workshop held on 6 December 2023 which identified the need to “map” the interface between AI and IP, this Colloquium attempted systematically to explore emerging issues at the AI/IP interface (with particularly regard to current developments including multimodal Generative AI) and to solicit greater regional participation. The topics covered included:

  • Mapping the AI/IP Interface
  • AI, IP, and the Big Questions
  • IP Law Reform and Technical Approaches to IP Protection

We thank all participants who travelled from various regions to share their valuable insights, ideas, and questions. Your contributions to the discussions on conventional and unconventional approaches to the substantive questions facing the various ecosystem players were invaluable. We look forward to continuing this important dialogue on AI and IP law in the next two workshops.

2nd Asia-Pacific Colloquium on AI, IP, and the Big Questions

CDL hosted the second Colloquium on AI and Intellectual Property in Asia-Pacific, focusing on The "Big Questions", convened by CDL Director Assoc Prof Jason Grant Allen and Assoc Prof Saw Cheng Lim of SMU Yong Pung How School of Law. Supported by Google, this workshop built upon the foundation laid by the first session, Mapping the AI/IP Interface, by examining the broader conceptual and societal implications of IP law in the context of AI advancements.

The discussions focused on the complexities of AI training data and its intersection with IP. Legal experts, Roxanne Carter (Senior Manager, Government Affairs and Public Policy, Google), Jon Small (Senior Counsel & IP Lead, Google DeepMind) and Ana Ramalho (Senior Copyright Counsel, Google) delivered insightful presentations on how AI and GenAI work. They highlighted AI's transformative potential across sectors while addressing the importance of diverse, high-quality training data to ensure ethical and legal use. Some of the key themes included the distinction between the learning patterns and memorization of AI models, the legal challenges of using data for AI training, and the importance of balancing copyright protection with innovation.

During the roundtable, participants examined ethical and legal frameworks needed to address the impact of AI on cultural values, labour, competition, and privacy rights. They emphasized the need for informed consent, clarity on proprietary rights, and the role of state regulation in navigating these challenges. This discussion underscores the importance of fostering multi-stakeholder dialogue to develop AI-ready IP regimes that balance innovation with the protection of intellectual property and societal values.

We thank all participants for sharing their valuable insights, ideas, and questions. We would also like to thank Google for their generous support, which played a vital role in making these workshops possible. These workshops are a critical step toward reimagining IP law in the AI era, paving the way for policies that better address the complexities of emerging technologies. We look forward to continuing this important dialogue in the final workshop, where we will explore possible future directions for IP law and policy based on the issues identified in the first two sessions.

Relevant resources for reading:
🔗 IPOS-CAIDG joint report
🔗 BSA Policy Solutions for Building Responsible AI
🔗 BSA Position Paper on AI & Copyright Policy
🔗 BSA Position Paper AI & Digital Replicas
🔗 BSA Submission to ISED Canada on AI & Copyright Policy
🔗 BSA Comments on Japan Agency for Cultural Affairs Draft Approach to AI & Copyright

3rd Asia-Pacific Colloquium on AI and Copyright

We hosted the third and final session of the AI & IP Colloquium, supported by Google, with a focus on the Asia-Pacific. This culminating session convened 10 distinguished speakers who presented impactful papers on the legal, regulatory, and policy challenges at the intersection of AI and IP. The programme featured 3 paper presentation sessions with Q&A discussions and concluded with a thought-provoking fireside chat.

Session 1:

  • Ari Juliano Gema (Assegaf Hamzah & Partners) examined the complexities of defining originality in AI-assisted works from an Indonesian legal perspective.
  • A/P WooJung Jon (KAIST) discussed whether AI image generation constitutes copyright infringement, delving into evolving interpretations of derivative works.
  • Huijuan Peng (SMU) explored copyright challenges in the generative AI era, advocating for statutory licensing and broader fair use frameworks.
  • A/P Saw Cheng Lim (SMU) moderated a Q&A exploring how copyright frameworks adapt (or not) to a rapidly shifting creative landscape.

Session 2:

  • Dr Joshua Yuvaraj (The University of Auckland) questioned traditional definitions of authorship and proposed new legal approaches to human creativity in an AI context.
  • A/P Saw shared his work on the ownership and duration of AI-authored works, raising key questions for rights management and reform.
  • Dr Poomsiri Dumrongvute (Chulalongkorn University) offered a comparative view on Thai patent law and its treatment of AI-related inventions.
  • A/P Jason Grant Allen (SMU) moderated a Q&A that discussed the role of incentives, the limits of current frameworks, and the challenges of AI regulation.

Session 3:

  • Dr Wenting Cheng (The University of Queensland) & Georg Zoeller (Centre for AI Leadership) presented on the role of contracts in governing AI training data, especially for high-risk systems.
  • A/P Allen provided a political economy lens on data’s role in AI, highlighting structural divides in the AI development pipeline.
  • Sarah Powell & Adj Prof Derek Whitehead (Australian Digital Alliance) presented on Australia’s policy efforts in AI and IP, with calls for collective licensing and copyright reform.
  • Huijuan Peng moderated a Q&A exploring governance tools for a fairer and more sustainable AI-IP future.

The event concluded with a fireside chat on “Shaping the Future of AI and IP—Where Legal Doctrine Meets Real-World Innovation”, featuring Prof David Llewelyn (SMU), Jean-Jacques Sahel (Google), and Cheryl Seah (Drew & Napier), moderated by A/P Saw. The speakers addressed legal uncertainty, data privacy, competition, liability, employment, and the need for responsible innovation and global collaboration. We are grateful to all speakers and attendees for enriching the Colloquium with their valuable contributions.