Microsoft’s AI chief, Mustafa Suleyman, recently sparked controversy by asserting that content published on the open web is effectively “freeware,” open for anyone to copy and use. This claim came during an interview with CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin, who asked Suleyman whether AI companies are “stealing the world’s IP.” Suleyman responded:

“I think that with respect to content that’s already on the open web, the social contract of that content since the ‘90s has been that it is fair use. Anyone can copy it, recreate with it, reproduce with it. That has been ‘freeware,’ if you like, that’s been the understanding.”

Currently, Microsoft and OpenAI are embroiled in multiple lawsuits alleging the theft of copyrighted online content to train generative AI models. Suleyman’s defense of these practices as legal has drawn significant criticism, as his stance appears to misunderstand copyright law.

In the US, copyright protection is automatic the moment a work is created. Authors don’t need to apply for it, and simply publishing content on the web doesn’t void these rights. In fact, the difficulty of waiving copyright rights has led to the creation of special web licenses to address these issues.

Fair use, a legal doctrine, is not established by a “social contract” but by a court, which considers factors such as the purpose, nature, amount, and impact of the use on the copyright owner. Many AI companies claim training on copyrighted content is fair use, but Suleyman’s public comments have been notably bold.

Adding to the controversy, Suleyman made a provocative statement about humanity’s purpose:

“What are we, collectively, as an organism of humans, other than a knowledge and intellectual production engine?”

Suleyman did acknowledge the concept of robots.txt files, which specify which bots can’t scrape a website’s content. He noted:

“There’s a separate category where a website, or a publisher, or a news organization had explicitly said ‘do not scrape or crawl me for any other reason than indexing me so that other people can find this content.’ That’s a grey area, and I think it’s going to work its way through the courts.”

However, robots.txt is not a legal document; it represents a voluntary standard rather than a binding legal framework. Despite this, some AI companies, including Microsoft partner OpenAI, reportedly ignore these directives.

Suleyman’s remarks have intensified the debate over AI’s use of copyrighted content, highlighting the need for clearer legal guidelines in this rapidly evolving field.

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