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About Copyright

Research Activities

Q1. May I use copyrighted materials to develop a new Gen-AI model or train an existing Gen-AI model
(e.g. ChatGPT)?

If NTU researchers, students or faculty wish to use third-party content to train or develop a customised Gen-AI model, they should be solely responsible for obtaining the necessary copyright clearances from the copyright owners of such third-party content. 

If the necessary copyright clearances are not obtained, NTU could be subjected to a claim for copyright infringement from the copyright owners. 

In addition, outputs of Gen-AI tools (e.g. ChatGPT) may contain infringing materials. Staff and students should conduct their own due diligence and obtain the necessary copyright clearances before using the outputs.

Q2. Am I allowed to use copyrighted works for my text and data mining research?

Copyrighted works may be used for computational data analysis, such as sentiment analysis, text and data mining, or machine learning training, without having to seek the permission of each copyright owner. 

The above is subject to certain conditions and safeguards:

  • You cannot share copies of the works with others, except for verifying the results of the computational data analysis, for collaborative research, or study relating to the purpose of such analysis; 
  • You cannot use copies of the works made for any other purpose; 
  • You must have lawful access to the works copied; and 
  • The works from which copies are made must not in themselves be infringing copies (unless the use of the infringing copies is necessary for a prescribed analysis), or you did not know that the works are infringing copies.

You are expected to comply with University policies and guidelines namely, Appropriate Use of Information Resources Policy, IT Usage Policy and Social Media Policy. Users will be personally liable for any infringement of Copyright and Licensing laws.
Unless otherwise stated, all guide content is licensed by CC BY-NC 4.0.