AI for Business

Copyright and Licensing and Gen AI

As part of the Vanderbilt Libraries, the Walker Management Library subscribes to databases to support research, teaching and learning at the Owen Graduate School of Management and the wider Vanderbilt community. Publishers license their database products, which are offered under specific sets of terms and conditions. With the advent of text data mining (TDM) and Generative AI tools, many publishers are concerned about their content being used to create commercial AI products. As a result, some publishers are beginning to negotiate specific terms for using AI with their products. 

Please contact the Management Library Team to discuss any potential project you are considering that would utilize library content with an LLM or AI product. All Vanderbilt University users- students, faculty, and staff- are responsible for following the terms of use for any University subscription, as per the Vanderbilt Honor Code.

Be sure to read more information about copyright and licensing matters for library materials below:

General Guidelines

Here are some general guidelines for using AI tools with data from databases ("subscribed products"):

• Data from library databases cannot be used to train commercially available AI models or models being developed for commercial use. 
• Generative AI developers likely use user inputs to train their models, especially if using the free version. Users should be aware of the terms of use from Gen AI providers. 
• The use of Gen AI tools cannot be used in such a way that would disrupt the publisher's services.
• The use of Gen AI tools cannot be used so that subscribed product is reproduced or redistributed to third parties. 
• When using Gen AI tools with subscribed products, reasonable information security standards should be observed.
• The courts are still working through multiple cases related to AI and copyright; future guidelines may change