Google has your back if its AI images land you in legal trouble

Google isn’t the kind of company to have its toe in only one market, and that goes doubly for. Along with models that generate text, the company also has models that generate images. Well, if your AI image lands you in trouble for copyright infringement, Google will protect you, according to Android Police. However, there’s fine print that you should know about.

How could AI images land you in legal trouble?

The content that AI models generate has to come from somewhere. Before a text generator can generate a story, it needs to be fed a ton of stories to learn what a story is. The same goes for AI images.

Before image generators could start generating images, they needed to be fed a massive amount of image data to learn. These images come from the internet, and a massive amount of that image data comes from images that artists have created.

Well, image generators are also fed copyrighted images. This has led to some heated debates about whether using AI-generated images of copyrighted words should be considered theft.

If your AI images break copyright law, then Google will defend you

If you’re planning on using AI images in a professional sense, then this is something that should be on your mind. While AI images are wholly created from scratch, there’s still the chance that you could be dragged into court. If you’re using one of Google’s AI image services, then the company will defend you if your image happens to break copyright law.

Google’s defense won’t only affect you. The company will also provide legal help for the artist whose work was infringed upon. It’s definitely good for the company to do that. It talked a lot about being responsible with AI, and this shows that the company is looking to take responsibility for potential legal matters.

Now, what’s that fine print?

So, Google will step in and help out folks caught in a legal whirlpool, but this protection doesn’t extend to everyone. For starters, and this should come as no surprise, the company will only cover accidental copyright infringement. So, if you create an image with the intention to infringe on a creator’s art, then you’re on your own.

Next, Google’s protection only extends to those using the Vertex AI or Duet AI. These are both paid services. If you use Bard to generate your images (that functionality is on its way), and it lands you in hot water, Google will not offer assistance. This is always recommended that you be mindful of the images that you create.