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AI and copyright

When you, as a student, use artificial intelligence (AI) or generative artificial intelligence (GAI) to search for literature or interact with a chatbot, it is important to be aware of the copyright and data protection issues you might encounter.

On this page, you can learn more about what to be mindful of regarding:

  • Uploading copyright-protected material to AI
  • Uploading personal data and confidential information to AI
  • Copyright and AI-generated output

Always remember to familiarize yourself with Aarhus University’s rules regarding the use of GAI in connection with your studies.

Need help?

If you have any questions feel free to contact the library.

Of course, you are also welcome to contact your local AU Library.

Uploading copyright-protected material to AI

If you use copyright-protected material or data, you should be aware of whether or not you are allowed to upload it to AI technologies. For many of the materials that the library provides access to, such as electronic books and articles, you are not permitted to share them with AI tools.

Another example of copyrighted material could be PowerPoint presentations or other materials used for teaching, which your teacher has prepared and made available on a course. Here, you will always have to ask for permission to use the material, for example, to convert text into podcasts.

It is only permitted to use AI for text mining of a larger text corpus in an academic context, if the library's agreement with the publisher allows it. Therefore, it is always a good idea to look up the terms of use for the library’s e-resources in the library system.

Uploading personal data and confidential information to AI

AI and your personal data

Be aware that your own personal data and your use of an AI technology may be used by the provider of the technology—for both further development of the technology and for other commercial purposes. For example, your profile may be resold for marketing purposes.

AI and confidential information

You should never upload confidential information to an AI technology.

As a student, you may come across confidential information if you conduct field studies in a company or otherwise participate in a business collaboration as part of your studies.

This may include information about security, trade secrets, internal matters, workflows, and information about private individuals. Read more on AU’s page on confidentiality in business collaborations.

AI for transcribing your interviews

As a student, you are responsible for your use of AI in your work.

If you want to use an AI tool to transcribe your interviews, you should carefully consider the entire process in relation to legality and good academic practice.

Always be aware of:

Where should I store my interviews?

  • Think about where you store interview data both before and after processing. You should remove data from the device it was recorded on as soon as possible.
  • You must store your interview data on a server with a sufficiently high level of security.
  • You should only store files containing personal data on DeiC Interactive HPC (UCloud).
  • If you store files with confidential or sensitive personal information on OneDrive, you must pseudonymize or anonymize them. Read more about the different categories of personal data.
  • You must always delete personal data when you no longer need it. Remember that your informants always have the right to have incorrect information corrected. You can do this, for example, by sharing the transcription with your informants.

Copyright and AI-generated output

AI technologies, such as chatbots, generate output in the form of text, images, sound, and code based on the data the model has been trained on. This means that the output you are presented with is based on data from materials that may be copyright protected.

If you use images, it is important to read the terms of use for the AI you are using. Often, these terms will be found in the “terms of use,” and copyright for the generated material will be outlined there.

If you use text or images generated using AI for exams, check what requirements are set for you, your subject, and your program. You can read more about this in Aarhus University’s rules for using GAI and on Aarhus University’s pages about exam cheating.

If you use images and text created using AI, you must always credit and indicate where you obtained the content. On the library’s pages about reference management, we have gathered information on how to cite GAI.