As AI technology rapidly evolves, so too do the challenges it presents, particularly around the use of AI-generated content and the issues of transparency and potential copyright infringement. At Profile Learning Technologies, we’ve always been committed to staying ahead of the curve when it comes to innovation, while ensuring our practices are ethical and legally sound. Recently, as part of that commitment, we’ve made changes to our AI strategy to better address concerns and minimise the risks of unintentional copyright infringement.
AI index 5/5 – AI was used in the research and drafting of this post and in the generation of the graphics – THIS IS 50% ORIGINAL CONTENT
Why this review was necessary
The increasing power and sophistication of AI tools has enabled businesses to generate content at scale – whether through AI-generated text, images, audio or code. However, with these opportunities come risks. The concern centres around the potential for AI to unintentionally generate content that might infringe on existing copyrights. This not only poses a legal risk but also raises ethical concerns about how we handle intellectual property.
Given these challenges, we realised we needed to seek a more robust solution – one that balances our increasing use of AI with strong safeguards against copyright infringement.
Our approach: seek suppliers with a clear and transparent policy on training their models and stated position on mitigating coyright infringement
To address these concerns, we looked at our AI service providers and examined their stated strategies, and the steps they are taking to mitigate the risks of infringement as well as how they are providing protection for their customers. In this review, Adobe Stock and Microsoft Azure AI Services stand out as two platforms that align closely with our own goals of responsible and legally sound AI usage.
Adobe Stock: Not only does Adobe Stock offer a vast library of royalty-free, high-quality images, videos, and templates that are fully licensed for commercial use, the company also offers customer protection when using generative AI images through its Adobe Firefly generative AI tools, which are integrated into the Adobe Creative Cloud products and Adobe Stock. Adobe has built Firefly and other AI tools by training them on licensed, public domain, or Adobe Stock content that is cleared for commercial use.
This ensures that the AI-generated outputs are not based on copyrighted or unlicensed material, minimizing the risk of inadvertently creating infringing content. By integrating Adobe Stock and Adobe products into our content creation workflows, we ensure that the assets we use are properly licensed, eliminating the risk of copyright infringement. This provides peace of mind while maintaining the creative freedom we need.
Microsoft Azure AI Services: Whilst we may use a variety of AI models for our own research purposes, the provision of services to our clients is a very different matter, and as we continue to leverage AI for text-to-speech, and other AI driven applications, Microsoft Azure AI has emerged as a valuable partner. Azure AI is not only a leader in innovation but also provides critical safeguards for intellectual property. Azure’s built-in guardrails help ensure that any AI-generated content adheres to legal and ethical standards, reducing the risk of inadvertently reproducing copyrighted materials.
Microsoft Azure AI services include preemptive measures that include content filters to block offensive or harmful outputs, ethical safeguards to prevent malicious use, compliance measures to adhere to copyright laws, and bias mitigation features to reduce discriminatory or biased content generation. Moreover, Microsoft’s Customer Copyright Commitment protects customers from third-party copyright claims related to the outputs generated by their services, as long as they adhere to certain mitigations, such as content review and responsible usage.
Looking ahead…
As we move forward, we’ll continue to prioritise both innovation and responsibility. Our new AI strategy, built around Adobe Stock and Microsoft Azure AI, reflects our commitment to using the latest technology in a way that is both creative and compliant with copyright laws. We believe this shift will not only safeguard our business but also set a strong foundation for sustainable and ethical AI usage in the years to come.