Case Study – OpenAI Advisory Services – Streaming Media Company – Content IP Safeguarded in AI Deal
Background
A popular streaming media company wanted to leverage generative AI to enhance its content operations.
They envisioned GPT tools to auto-generate subtitles and metadata for their vast library, and even power a content-recommending chatbot. The company entered negotiations for an OpenAI API integration.
Given the high value of its content and strict licensing agreements, the legal team was very concerned about how an AI vendor would handle their proprietary media assets. Ensuring that any scripts or media fed into the AI remained confidential and unused beyond the service was a top priority during negotiations.
Challenges
The standard AI service agreement did not explicitly prevent the provider from retaining or learning from the content provided for processing, raising the risk that the company’s exclusive content could inadvertently feed the vendor’s models or leak to others.
The draft contract also lacked data deletion commitments or location limits, thereby violating some of the studio’s distribution rules.
Liability terms were minimal, leaving the streaming firm little recourse if the AI made a mistake that led to a copyright or moderation issue on their platform.
Unwilling to risk its content assets or upset content licensors, the company paused before signing. They brought in Redress Compliance to vet and renegotiate the contract, protecting their content IP and eliminating these risks.
How Redress Compliance Helped
Redress Compliance performed an AI contract risk review focused on IP and data security. The Redress team reviewed the contract and identified all provisions that required modification.
First, they negotiated a clause that explicitly barred the AI vendor from using any of the streaming company’s content (scripts, metadata, etc.) for anything beyond the immediate service.
They added an obligation for the vendor to promptly delete the company’s content data after processing, preventing it from lingering. To safeguard IP, Redress added a provision affirming that all AI outputs generated from the company’s content (subtitles, summaries, etc.) would be the company’s property, with no license back to the vendor.
Next, they ensured that AI processing would occur only in specified data centers within the required regions, thereby satisfying content export restrictions. In terms of liability, Redress advocated for shared responsibility.
If the AI mishandled content and caused a breach (for example, failing to filter out copyrighted material in subtitles), the vendor would assist in remediation and provide fee credits.
Redress also tightened confidentiality, extending confidential information to cover all media assets and AI outputs. Backed by references to the client’s obligations under studio contracts and copyright law, these content-specific redlines convinced the vendor to accept the modifications.
Outcome and Impact
With Redress Compliance’s guidance, the streaming media company finalized an AI service agreement that safeguarded its content IP at every turn.
The final contract explicitly stated that the company’s scripts, transcripts, and media data would not be used to train the provider’s models or be shared elsewhere.
The vendor was bound to purge the company’s data after processing, eliminating lingering exposure. These changes eliminated the risk of the streaming giant’s valuable IP being leaked beyond its intended use.
Additionally, the contract granted the company ownership of all AI-generated materials, thereby retaining full rights to any content created from its materials.
The agreement also met the company’s compliance needs: data processing stayed in approved regions, and the vendor committed to strong uptime and support SLAs for this media-critical service.
Importantly, the improved liability clauses gave the streaming firm peace of mind – if something went wrong, they now had recourse and vendor support instead of facing it alone. These strengthened terms allowed the company’s legal and content teams to green-light the AI project.
The streaming service went on to implement GPT-driven tools to enhance its platform, confident that the contract shielded its creative assets and ensured its obligations to content partners were upheld.
The result was a successful GenAI integration that improved the user experience (with better metadata and recommendations) while keeping the company’s IP and data risks firmly in check.
Client Testimonial
“Our content is our crown jewel, and we were not about to compromise on protecting it,” said the General Counsel of the streaming company. “Redress Compliance understood that immediately. They rewrote the contract to ensure that none of our scripts or media could be leaked or misused. We now have total ownership of any content created by the AI, and the vendor is contractually bound to our privacy standards. Redress turned a risky contract into one that meets our high bar for content security.”
Call-to-Action
Working with AI on high-value content? Don’t sign anything until you’re sure your IP is safe. Redress Compliance specializes in AI contract risk advisory for media and technology companies, ensuring your data and rights are fully protected.
Before deploying generative AI on your content, let Redress Compliance review the terms. We’ll help you negotiate an agreement that drives innovation without exposing your crown jewels.
Read about our GenAI Negotiation Services.
Read about our other GenAI Negotiation Case Studies.
