The Regulating Generative Artificial Intelligence Conference was held successfully at Hong Kong University on December 14-15. The conference brought together academics, industry and professionals around the world to discuss global AI governance and regulation. It aimed to promote innovation and collaboration in the field of AI regulation and held several panel discussions covering content regulation, data security, intellectual property, ethical compliance, and international cooperation. Notably, He Jing, the managing partner of GEN law firm, addressed the challenges of IP protection related to generative AI.

During the conference's afternoon session, "Panel 3: Intellectual Property Protection Issues," on December 14, He Jing, partner from GEN Law Firm, Professor Ping Zhang from Peking University Law School, Winnie Yeung, Director of Legal and Corporate Affairs at Microsoft, and Professor William "Terry" Fisher, the WilmerHale Professor of Intellectual Property Law at Harvard University, joined the panel discussions. The panel provided comprehensive analyses and discussions on whether using copyrighted works for training AI constitutes infringement, the possible copyright protection for AI-generated content in China, and the latest legislative, judicial, and administrative developments in related fields. Mr. He, in his remarks, analyzed recent case issued by Beijing Internet Court on the application of originality standards by Chinese courts, where the court recognized the user who used generative AI tools in producing images as the author. He compared the Chinese court's approach to those followed under UK copyright law and referred to decisions made by the U.S. Copyright Office on AI-generated works. The audience also provided very intersting perspectives.