[DigitalToday reporter Jin-ho Lee] The government will publish a guide setting out standards related to generative artificial intelligence (AI) training on copyrighted works and will move to improve systems to support coexistence between the AI industry and the cultural industry.

The Ministry of Science and ICT and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said on Wednesday they will publish a "fair use guide" containing criteria for determining fair use under copyright law for generative AI training on works, after holding a meeting at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art. The meeting was attended by Kyung-hoon Bae (배경훈), deputy prime minister and minister of science and ICT, Hwi-young Choi (최휘영), minister of culture, sports and tourism, and Moon-young Lim (임문영), vice chair of the National AI Strategy Committee.

The guide is a reference for assessing whether fair-use provisions under copyright law can be applied to generative AI training. It explains four factors: the purpose and character of use, the type and use of the work, the proportion and importance of the portion used in relation to the whole, and the effect of the use on the market.

It also made clear that AI training for commercial purposes or using web crawling is not excluded from fair use, and that assessments are made comprehensively depending on whether each factor favors or disfavors fair use.

The government presented hypothetical examples of cases in which fair use could be recognized and cases in which it would be difficult to recognize. It said those examples are not authoritative interpretations by the culture ministry or the Copyright Commission, and whether fair use applies in practice will be decided by courts depending on specific facts.

The guide also strengthens policy support to address copyright issues arising in the use of AI training data. The culture ministry will build a base for providing and distributing rights information for works to support confirming right holders and concluding licensing agreements. The science ministry will link copyright rights information with private-sector data exchanges through an integrated AI training data provision system, and will apply a research and development (R&D) tax credit for the cost of purchasing training data.

To expand the use of public works, it also newly established a "Type 0" and an "AI type" in standards for the Public Nuri free-use permission marking. The government plans to make the use of public works for AI training purposes clearer through the move.

The guide can be viewed on the Copyright Commission website from 11 a.m. on Wednesday. The government also plans to set up AI-focused channels for consultation, consulting and dispute mediation to support responses to related disputes.