Clearing the model and the inputs
Start with the tool. A model's terms decide whether outputs may be used commercially, who holds any rights in them, what happens to your inputs and whether the provider offers contractual protection against infringement claims. Terms differ between providers and change over time, so get them in writing rather than assuming. Then clear the inputs. Reference images, mood boards and style references need rights just as a photograph in a layout does, and uploading a competitor's campaign or a photographer's portfolio as a reference invites an output that is too close to it. Keep a record of every input used for each asset.
What appears inside a generated scene
Generation can put things into an image that nobody asked for. A street scene may include a recognisable shop sign, a car with a real manufacturer's badge, a branded bottle on a table, a famous building or a well-known artwork on a wall. Each can raise trademark, copyright or passing-off questions, especially where your brand appears to endorse something. Some landmarks carry their own restrictions: the operator of the Eiffel Tower asserts rights over images of its night illumination, and freedom-of-panorama rules for buildings and public art vary between countries. Review every generated scene for third-party marks and artworks as closely as you would a location photograph.
Music, fonts and talent
Ordinary licensing rules apply to AI-made content without exception. Music needs a sync licence for the media, territories and term you plan, or a production-music licence that covers them; a generated track needs terms allowing commercial use, and it must not reproduce an existing song or an artist's recognisable voice. Fonts need licences that cover the use, since desktop licences often exclude web embedding, apps or logos. Talent needs releases for the specific usage, and any synthetic face or voice based on a real person needs that person's written consent. Record expiry dates, because a lapsed licence turns a live asset into an infringement overnight.
Who owns AI output
Owning a generated asset is less certain than owning a photograph. The US Copyright Office requires human authorship: prompts alone are not enough, and applicants must disclose AI-generated material that is more than trivial, though human selection, arrangement and modification can be protected. The UK's Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 has a provision for computer-generated works, which the government proposed removing in March 2026; it still applies until the law changes. EU law ties protection to the author's own intellectual creation. The practical answer is contracts plus human-made core assets: create logos, characters and hero artwork with human authorship and generate around them. The studio runs commercially safe models by default and records which model made each asset.
Updated 25 September 2026 · General information, not legal advice. Rules change, so check the current text with your legal team before relying on it.