Need to Know

Global – Microsoft has introduced a Copilot Copyright Commitment promising to protect any customers challenged on intellectual property grounds over the use of the company’s AI tools, such as Microsoft 365 Copilot.

Launched in March 2023, Microsoft 365 Copilot is a productivity platform enabling users to create decks, meeting notes and spreadsheets from simple text prompts. Generative AI, however, is still a largely unmoderated space, creating potential copyright infringement issues for creators.

Under the new Copilot Copyright Commitment, Microsoft assumes responsibility for any IP risks and will defend the customer and cover the costs of any necessary judgements or settlements, as long as the user adheres to measures put in place to reduce the risk of copyright infringement while using the software. Other firms such as Shutterstock and Adobe have recently made similar pledges.

In a Microsoft blog post, Brad Smith, vice-chair and president, and Hossein Nowbar, corporate vice-president and chief legal officer, wrote: ‘We are charging our commercial customers for our Copilots, and if their use creates legal issues, we should make this our problem rather than our customers’ problem.’

From creative to corporate, AI tools are continually evolving to aid every industry, as we explored in our Generative AI Creativity Market report. Copyright commitments signal companies’ faith in, and commitment to, the future of AI in the workplace.

Every Friday, we offer an end-of-week wrap-up of the topics, issues, ideas and virals we’re all talking about. This week, deputy foresight editor Dan Hastings dives into New York Fashion Week, Pokémon and being vanilla.

: The quest for social media virality is getting as embarrassing as it is ridiculous on the catwalks. Theatrics overwhelmed the fashion, from the approximative dancing in a prom dress at Christian Siriano to Elena Velez’s muddy swamp and Sami Miro Vintage’s designer deconstructing jeans into an ill-fitting skirt with a double train. In tune with our analysis of Subversive Sustainability Ads, designer Collina Strada sent creepy smiling models down the runway, acting like everything is fine while the world is burning.

: I was born and raised in Réunion island where, in 1841, a 12-year-old enslaved child figured out how to marry a male anther and the female stigma of an orchid to make vanilla production faster and avoid shipping beans across the Atlantic from Mexico. His name, Edmond Albius, was erased from history, and he never made a penny from his discovery. In a fascinating long read, The New York Times dives into the history of the aroma that became a byword for blandness.

: In other news, one in three ‘dudes’ has an STI, according to research published in The Lancet; Pokémon is joining forces with the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, and Gannett, the largest newspaper chain in the US, is searching for two reporters dedicated to Taylor Swift and Beyoncé news – what a dream!