Working Group on Scholarly Content and Generative AI

MIT's Working Group on Scholarly Content and Generative AI, co-chaired by MIT Libraries Director Chris Bourg and Office of the General Counsel Counsel Claire Schneider, released three resource documents on August 12, 2026, to guide the MIT community on legal, technical, and ethical issues when scholarly content is used to train generative AI models. The group, launched in April 2025 by the offices of the Provost, Vice President for Research, and General Counsel, aims to inform decisions by MIT scholars and Institute entities that publish or manage scholarly content.

Dear colleagues, We write today to share the outputs of the Working Group on Scholarly Content and Generative AI https://provost.mit.edu/about/areas-of-oversight/mit-working-group-on-scholarly-content-and-generative-ai/ , which was co-chaired by Chris Bourg, MIT Libraries Director, and Claire Schneider, Counsel in the Office of the General Counsel OGC . Launched in April 2025 https://orgchart.mit.edu/letters/working-group-scholarly-content-and-generative-ai by the offices of the Provost under then-Provost Cynthia Barnhart , Vice President for Research, and General Counsel, the working group was charged with helping the MIT community develop a common understanding of the legal, technical, and ethical issues involved when scholarly content is used in the development and training of generative AI models. In the course of its charge, the working group produced three resource documents to inform decisions made by MIT scholars and Institute entities that publish, steward, or otherwise manage scholarly content. We are grateful to Chris and Claire for their leadership and to the members of the working group, listed below our signatures, for their thoughtful work to advise the Institute on these important issues. We encourage you to review these final materials and provide any feedback by emailing aicontent-workinggroup@mit.edu mailto:aicontent-workinggroup@mit.edu . Sincerely, Anantha P. Chandrakasan Provost Ian A. Waitz Vice President for Research Chris Bourg, Director of Libraries co-chair Claire Schneider, Counsel, Office of the General Counsel co-chair Amy Brand, Director and Publisher, MIT Press Christopher Capozzola, Elting E. Morison Professor of History and Senior Associate Dean for Open Learning Catherine D’Ignazio, Associate Professor of Urban Science and Planning Dylan Hadfield-Menell, Bonnie and Marty 1964 Tenenbaum Career Development Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Graham Jones, Professor of Anthropology Yoon Kim, Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Ruth Lehmann, Professor of Biology and Director of the Whitehead Institute Meghan McCollum Fenno, Counsel, Office of the General Counsel, and Executive Director, Office of Strategic Alliances, Transactions & Translation Susan S. Silbey, Leon and Anne Goldberg Professor of Humanities, Sociology and Anthropology, and Professor of Behavioral and Policy Sciences Eric So, Sloan Distinguished Professor of Global Economics and Management Lily L. Tsai, Ford Professor of Political Science Katie Zimmerman, Director of Copyright Strategy, MIT Libraries August 12, 2026