There are two answers. By contract, AI providers generally assign their rights in the output to you, but only whatever rights they have, if any. By law, in Australia copyright protects only works with a human author who contributes independent intellectual effort, so code generated with little human input may not be protected by copyright at all. The parts a person meaningfully wrote, directed, selected or edited are on firmer ground. There's no clear legal threshold yet, and reform is under consideration.
What's the problem
Much of your app was written by an AI tool. An investor, a buyer or a partner asks whether you own your code, or you're wondering whether a competitor could simply copy it. The usual answer, "we wrote it", isn't quite true.
Why it happens
- Copyright follows human authors. Under the Copyright Act, the author of a work owns its copyright. Australian law looks for a human author who contributed independent intellectual effort. An AI tool isn't one.
- The tools' terms can't create rights that don't exist. Providers' terms typically assign you their rights in the output. Anthropic's consumer terms, for example, assign "all of our right, title, and interest—if any". If no copyright exists, there's nothing to assign.
- It's a matter of degree. How much a person contributed matters, and there's no fixed line. Code you heavily shaped, rewrote or assembled is different from code generated in one prompt and pasted in.
- The law may change. The Government's Copyright and AI Reference Group is considering reform.
How to fix it
You can't change the law, but you can put yourself in the strongest position.
- Keep the code private. Copyright is one protection. Not publishing your code is another. Keep repositories private and limit access.
- Keep a record of human contribution: design decisions, specifications, substantial edits, and commits made by people.
- Have people review and reshape what the AI writes, rather than pasting it in unread. That's good engineering as well as better evidence of authorship.
- Check the terms of the AI tools you use, especially business plans, for who owns output and how your inputs are used.
- Get written IP assignments from every person who works on the code, employee or contractor, so whatever human-authored rights exist belong to the company. See who owns the code my developer wrote.
- For a sale or investment, get legal advice and disclose AI use honestly.
Australian law
Section 35(2) of the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth) makes the author of a literary work (which includes a computer program) the owner of its copyright. Australian law currently requires a human author contributing independent intellectual effort, so works generated by AI with little human input will generally not attract copyright. Where people contribute, the level of human contribution matters to whether the work is protected and who owns it. The Australian Government's Copyright and Artificial Intelligence Reference Group is considering reform, and no clear threshold exists yet.
General information, not legal advice.
When to call Preventionlabs
This is a legal question, and we're not lawyers. What we can tell you is how we handle it ourselves. We use AI-assisted development tools, and our terms and privacy policy say so. On payment in full, all rights in the code and documentation we create for your project are assigned to you, and the code is handed back in a repository you own or control.
Submit your project for a free assessmentFree assessment. $10,000 AUD flat to get it live, only if we take it on and you go ahead.
Sources
- University of Notre Dame Australia Library: Copyright and Gen-AIuniversity copyright guidance
In Australia, copyright applies only to works with a human author who contributes independent intellectual effort.
- University of Notre Dame Australia Library: Copyright and Gen-AIuniversity copyright guidance
The Australian Government’s Copyright and Artificial Intelligence Reference Group (CAIRG) is considering future reform in this area, but no clear threshold currently exists.
- Arts Law Centre of Australia: Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Copyrightnational legal centre
The level of human contribution will be important in determining whether works generated using AI are protected by copyright and who owns them.
- Anthropic: Consumer Terms of ServiceAI provider terms
Subject to your compliance with our Terms, we assign to you all of our right, title, and interest—if any—in Outputs.
- Copyright Act 1968 (Cth): Section 35(2): ownership of copyrightlegislation, compilation No. 65
Subject to this section, the author of a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work is the owner of any copyright subsisting in the work by virtue of this Part.