Representatives Madeleine Dean (D-PA) and Nathaniel Moran (R-TX) introduced a bipartisan bill entitled the Transparency and Responsibility for Artificial Intelligence Networks (TRAIN) Act in the US House of Representatives. The legislative objective is to provide a mechanism to help musicians, artists, writers, and other creators determine if their copyrighted work was used to train generative artificial intelligence (AI) models without their permission, and if so, to pursue compensation for that use. A bipartisan group of senators also reintroduced the TRAIN Act in the US Senate.

The proposed legislation would create a new legal mechanism allowing copyright owners to use federal court subpoena power to obtain information about the materials used to train generative AI models. The bill would establish the first federal statutory definition of “generative AI models.” A generative AI model would be defined as an AI model that “emulates the structure and characteristics of input data in order to generate derived synthetic content,” including images, video, audio, text, and other digital content, as well as any subsequent variation of such a model.

Under the proposed framework, an owner of one or more copyrighted works would be entitled to seek a subpoena compelling a generative AI developer to produce copies of, or records sufficient to identify, the copyrighted works (or portions thereof) that were used to train the developer’s model. To obtain a subpoena, the copyright owner would submit a request to a US district court clerk that includes a proposed subpoena and a sworn affidavit attesting to the owner’s subjective good faith belief that the developer used some or all of the owner’s copyrighted works to train its generative AI model. The affidavit would also attest that the subpoena’s purpose is to obtain the owner’s copyrighted materials or records to sufficiently identify the owner’s copyrighted materials used to train the model, and that the copies or records requested would be used solely to protect the copyright owner’s rights.

Once a subpoena was issued and served in accordance with the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, the developer would be required to “expeditiously disclose” the requested copies or records to the copyright owner or an authorized representative.

The TRAIN Act also includes two enforcement provisions. First, if a developer fails to comply with a subpoena, the court may apply a rebuttable presumption that the developer did in fact use the copyrighted works to train its model. Second, if a copyright owner seeks a subpoena in bad faith, the recipient may pursue sanctions under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11.

If enacted, the TRAIN Act would significantly expand transparency obligations for developers of generative AI models and provide copyright owners with a new tool to investigate potential unauthorized uses of their works.