AI and law in music lessons

Question from an SMPV member: What do I have to consider legally when using artificial intelligence (AI) in music lessons?

Answer from Dr. Kovacs:
The use of AI in music lessons is becoming increasingly popular. For this very reason, a certain carelessness has arisen in the handling of works and data, which is not appropriate from a legal perspective. In principle, the general legal rules that apply offline also apply to the use of AI tools.
apply. The Internet is not a legal vacuum. The following presentation of some "legal minefields" is intended to help you recognize them and deal with them correctly. It is not exhaustive, so that the respective problems must be examined for each individual use.

A The following should be noted for the input (feeding the AI with data): In principle, all owners of rights to the data entered (e.g. images, texts, pieces of music) must be asked for their consent (license). Without this, use is generally not permitted.

1. There are exceptions to this in copyright law:

• Teachers may use copyright-protected works in the classroom as long as this is necessary for the purpose of teaching and the use is not commercial. However, they are
• subject to remuneration.
• Short excerpts from protected works may be quoted as long as the source is cited and the work is used to illustrate the teaching topic.
• The making of copies for teaching purposes is permitted if they are intended for the personal use of the students and do not go beyond what is necessary.
• However, it may still be necessary to obtain the author's consent (i.e. a license) if the work is used on a large scale or for events outside the classroom.
• Many schools have agreements with authors or collecting societies (e.g. SUISA) that they pay a flat-rate license fee to cover the use of music or texts in class.

2. data and privacy protection:
Many AI applications collect and process users' personal data. This is not permitted without their consent if it goes beyond the generally known data. In particular, the use of personal images always requires consent, as does the use and compilation of cell phone numbers and email addresses. Schools and teachers must ensure that they meet the legal requirements. In particular, they must inform the authorized persons in advance of the purpose of the data use and obtain their consent. The teacher must be able to prove this. The teacher must also take suitable measures to protect the data and be able to provide evidence of this.

B The following should be noted for the output (the work result of the AI tool):

AI-supported tools can generate or analyze pieces of music, write and correct texts and much more. However, they can also use pieces of music or texts from the internet to edit them and thus generate new pieces or texts. It is still unclear who owns the rights to these new works: the developers of the AI programs, the users or the AI itself? It is clear that the AI itself cannot be the author of a work, especially as only natural persons can be.

Liability and conclusion:
If an AI tool or the user does not observe the legal restrictions or even provides incorrect information in class, all parties responsible, e.g. the developer of the AI, the school and the teacher, are jointly and severally liable, i.e. they are jointly and severally liable in full for any damage. This can be expensive. It is therefore important that teachers inform themselves about the specific regulations and seek legal advice in case of uncertainty.