Much like with other industry agnostic tech, the artificial intelligence (AI) powering legal-specific solutions such as contract analytics or e-billing often requires data or examples in order to “learn” how to perform its job. But the risks posed by using copyrighted training material may vary greatly from provider to provider.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office released a cautionary report last month after having issued requests for comments on patenting AI inventions from stakeholders. “Many comments expressed that the use of copyrighted material to ‘train’ AI may violate the reproduction right of a copyright owner under 17 U.S.C. §106(1), and that this use may or may not be a non-infringing fair use,” read the report.