Artificial Intelligence, Intellectual Property, and Sustainable Development

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, ETHICAL INNOVATION AND SUSTAINABILITY: TOWARDS A NEW SOCIAL CONTRACT FOR THE DIGITAL ECONOMY?, Christophe Geiger, ed., Edward Elgar Publishing, 2026, Forthcoming

Texas A&M University School of Law Legal Studies Research Paper No. 25-12

10 Pages Posted: 15 Jan 2025 Last revised: 16 Jan 2025

See all articles by Peter K. Yu

Peter K. Yu

Texas A&M University School of Law

Date Written: January 15, 2025

Abstract

In 1992, the World Commission on Environment and Development, known widely as the Brundtland Commission, called for efforts to "ensure that [development] meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." Building on the Commission's work and other similar efforts, the United Nations, in September 2015, launched the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (2030 Agenda), which featured 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 targets.

One topic that has received considerable attention from intellectual property scholars in recent years but that has not yet been fully explored in the sustainable development context is artificial intelligence. Since the arrival of ChatGPT, Dall-E, Midjourney, Stable Diffusion, Copilot and other generative AI tools, commentators have been particularly concerned about the impact of AI on the future development of the intellectual property system. Three sets of issues have dominated the policy and academic debates: (1) the eligibility of AI-generated works for intellectual property protection; (2) the unauthorized use of protected creations and inventions to train AI models; and (3) the use of AI to support the protection, enforcement or licensing of intellectual property rights.

At the time of writing, few scholars have explored the interplay between AI, intellectual property and sustainable development. To fill this lacuna, this chapter begins by outlining three major contributions that the concept of sustainable development, the 2030 Agenda and the 17 SDGs have provided to the debate on intellectual property law and policy. The chapter then discusses the implications of AI for sustainable development, with a focus on three sets of sustainability concerns: ecological, cultural and global.

Suggested Citation

Yu, Peter K., Artificial Intelligence, Intellectual Property, and Sustainable Development (January 15, 2025). INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, ETHICAL INNOVATION AND SUSTAINABILITY: TOWARDS A NEW SOCIAL CONTRACT FOR THE DIGITAL ECONOMY?, Christophe Geiger, ed., Edward Elgar Publishing, 2026, Forthcoming, Texas A&M University School of Law Legal Studies Research Paper No. 25-12, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=5098200 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.5098200

Peter K. Yu (Contact Author)

Texas A&M University School of Law ( email )

1515 Commerce St.
Fort Worth, TX Tarrant County 76102
United States

HOME PAGE: http://www.peteryu.com/

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