Hong Kong delays AI copyright amendment, will issue guidelines first
Hong Kong's copyright rules for AI training data stay unresolved; whether the guidelines land and the bill returns is what to watch.
Original event 2026-09-27
Hong Kong has put off its AI copyright amendment and will issue operational guidelines first.
According to the South China Morning Post, the Copyright (Amendment) Bill 2025, which would have introduced an "opt-out" mechanism for text and data mining, was removed from the Legislative Council's agenda last August and does not appear in the 2026 blueprint or the city's first five-year plan, both delivered earlier this month.
The opt-out mechanism drew opposition from copyright holders after it was proposed in 2024, who said checking whether AI companies had used their works would take too much effort and counter-proposed an opt-in model. The shift to guidelines first means the legal boundary for AI training data in Hong Kong remains unsettled for the near term.