Just AI Meetings in Rio

The Geneva Center on Knowledge Governance (CKG) and the Instituto Brasileiro de Direitos Autorais (IDBA) are sponsoring a series of meetings and events for members of the User Rights Network June 24-26, 2026, — the week prior to the ATRIP meetings in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The meetings will have a focus on the intersection of copyright and artificial intelligence, especially in the context of uses and production of AI models in developing countries. A rough draft of the agenda follows. We invite proposals to present papers or works in progress at and of the sessions, which will be revised based on the applications received.

This event has been instigated by the intense debates on how much and at what stages the use of AI in the creation or scientific process are adequate, considering the recent widespread usage of AI technologies in artistic creations and scientific research. Key questions include when does a creative or scientific work become AI-made versus human-made? What are the points of distinction of works that are artisanal or fully human made, AI-assisted human made and autonomously or semi-autonomously AI-made? Are quantitative or qualitative measurements possible, relevant or suitable? How can we develop policies (institutionals, national and international) and criteria for such distinctions? What are the foreseeable consequences of such distinctions? To discuss these issues we invite guest presenters to enlighten the debate on ‘what is to create with AI?’ and ‘what is research with AI?’.

9h Opening remarks

9h30 Panel 01: Create with AI

11h Break

11h15 Panel 02: research with AI

1245: Closing Remarks

13h00: Lunch

Copyright and Public AI

The rapid growth of AI technology around the world holds the potential to improve research and innovation, but also the risk of aggravating inequality in access to information and economic opportunities. A key problem is that most of the small number of critical “foundation” and “frontier” models upon which AI applications are built are created and controlled by an even smaller number of multinational commercial technology firms. These models are rarely transparent, often culturally and linguistically biased, and have immense market power. One response to the promise and challenges, especially in the Global South and the so-called “middle powers,” is the promotion of “Public AI” — referring to government led and/or publicly accountable open source initiatives to invest in computational, model building and data infrastructure to support the development of a multiplicity of diverse public interest and commercial AI applications. At the Centre on Knowledge Governance, we are developing a somewhat broader conception of “Just AI” that blends the desires for public accountability in Public AI with human rights concerns, including the moral and material interests of creators, the stewardship of traditional knowledge by communities and the developmental priorities of the Global South. This session invites papers on any dimension of the topic, including how and whether copyright law may include exceptions for training Just AI models, when and how remuneration systems should be applied to AI training uses, and what principles and doctrines should form the basis of a Just AI conception. 

14h Opening Remarks

14h30: Panel discussion/Presentations

16h00: Break

16h30 Panel discussion/Presentations

19h30 Conference dinner (TBD)

26th:

User Rights Private Meeting 

10h00: Roundtable on teaching and research priorities on IP and AI

13h: Lunch 

15h Social activities

19h30: Network Dinner