Consultation · 29 September 2026
EU opens new AI and copyright consultation: what GenAI providers should know.
The European Commission is asking whether the EU copyright framework needs additional measures as artificial intelligence changes how protected content is used. Generative-AI providers are expressly among the stakeholders invited to respond.
Published and legally reviewed: 29 September 2026 · Consultation closes: 3 November 2026.
Answer first
This is a consultation — not a new AI Act obligation.
On 29 September 2026, the European Commission opened a targeted consultation on technology and copyright. One of its four focus areas is the use of copyright-protected content in artificial intelligence. The process may inform future EU measures, but it does not itself amend the AI Act or create a new compliance deadline.
Why AI companies should care
Copyright is already part of the EU compliance stack for GPAI.
Training content
The consultation expressly asks about copyright-protected content used in AI. For model developers, that keeps training-data acquisition, licensing and provenance at the centre of the European policy debate.
Article 53
GPAI model providers already have an AI Act obligation to maintain a policy to comply with EU copyright law, including identifying and complying with relevant rights reservations under the EU text-and-data-mining framework.
Machine-readable opt-outs
The Commission and EUIPO have separately been working on generally agreed machine-readable TDM opt-out protocols. The GPAI Code's copyright commitments include respecting robots.txt and identifying other appropriate rights-reservation protocols.
U.S. providers are not outside the issue
A provider based in the United States may still face EU AI Act obligations where the Regulation's territorial scope is met. Copyright compliance should therefore be mapped alongside GPAI classification and EU-market strategy rather than treated as a purely domestic IP issue.
What happened
The Commission is gathering evidence before deciding whether additional measures are warranted.
The targeted consultation covers four areas: copyright-protected content used in AI, online piracy of content such as live events, equitable remuneration for music performers and producers, and copyright issues affecting scientific research. The Commission says emerging technological and market developments raise the question whether the existing framework should be reinforced.
Operational response
What GenAI and GPAI providers can review now
- Map the sources and provenance of copyright-protected material used for model training or development.
- Document the organisation's EU copyright-compliance policy where Article 53 applies.
- Review how web crawlers detect and respect machine-readable TDM rights reservations.
- Check governance for licensing, rights-holder requests and dataset changes.
- Separate current binding requirements from possible future measures emerging from the consultation.
- Consider whether the organisation has evidence or technical experience relevant to the consultation before the 3 November 2026 deadline.
What remains uncertain
The consultation does not predetermine legislation.
The Commission is collecting stakeholder evidence and options. Any future legal change would require its own legal basis and process. Companies should therefore avoid treating proposals discussed in the consultation as if they were already binding requirements.
Related EUAIACTUS guidance
Connect copyright to the wider EU AI compliance program.
GPAI obligations
Model-provider duties, systemic-risk requirements and the GPAI Code of Practice.
EU AI Act for U.S. companies
How territorial scope can reach organisations established outside the European Union.