Canada’s Minister in charge of artificial intelligence is closely monitoring legal battles in both Canada and the U.S. to determine the next steps for Ottawa’s regulatory approach to AI. Some AI firms have reported initial successes in the U.S., with OpenAI currently contesting an Ontario court’s jurisdiction to hear a lawsuit brought by news publishers.
The office of Evan Solomon has indicated plans to address copyright matters as part of Canada’s broader AI regulatory framework, emphasizing the protection of cultural sovereignty and the involvement of creators in the dialogue. While there are no immediate intentions for a distinct copyright bill, Solomon’s office is actively observing ongoing legal proceedings and market trends to guide future strategies.
The timeline for resolution in these legal disputes, determining whether AI companies can utilize copyrighted material for training their AI tools, remains uncertain. The sole Canadian case raising this issue was initiated last year by a coalition of news publishers, with the Ontario Superior Court scheduled to consider a jurisdictional challenge in September.
The coalition, comprising prominent Canadian media outlets such as The Canadian Press, Torstar, the Globe and Mail, Postmedia, and CBC/Radio-Canada, is suing OpenAI for allegedly using news content to train its AI system without authorization, thereby infringing copyright laws. They have accused OpenAI of deliberate and unauthorized appropriation of their valuable journalistic works.
OpenAI has refuted these allegations, asserting that its models are trained on publicly available data and adhere to fair use and international copyright principles. Based in San Francisco, the company is disputing the Ontario court’s jurisdiction, contending that it lacks business operations in Ontario.
The Copyright Act’s applicability beyond Canada has also been challenged by OpenAI. The company has requested the court to seal certain documents in the case, citing the sensitivity of information related to its corporate structure, web crawling processes, and AI model training methodologies.
Amidst the competitive landscape of the AI industry, OpenAI emphasized the importance of safeguarding its proprietary information from competitors to maintain its leadership position. In contrast, representatives for the news publishers refrained from commenting on the case, focusing on meeting court deadlines.
Various legal battles concerning AI systems and copyright are ongoing in the U.S., with recent victories for AI companies in select cases. Notably, rulings in favor of AI companies were issued in disputes involving the fair use of published works, although the broader implications of these decisions remain subject to ongoing legal scrutiny.
