Character.AI says you own the AI-generated responses and content from your conversations, but gives itself a permanent, irrevocable license to use those AI outputs commercially, promote the service with them, and share them with others.
This analysis describes what Character.AI's agreement states, permits, or reserves. It does not constitute a legal determination about enforceability. Regulatory applicability and practical outcomes may vary by jurisdiction, enforcement context, and individual circumstances. Read our methodology
Your conversations with AI characters, including what the AI says to you, fall under a perpetual commercial license that Character.AI can use to promote the service or share with third parties, even though the agreement states you own this content.
Interpretive note: The legal status of user ownership of AI-generated content is unsettled under U.S. copyright law and varies internationally, which affects the practical meaning of both the ownership assertion and the license grant.
New provision explicitly clarifies user ownership of AI-generated outputs while still granting Character.AI a perpetual sublicensable license, addressing a gap between user-submitted and AI-generated content rights.
View full change record →Conversations you have with AI characters on the platform may be used to promote Character.AI off-platform or shared with third parties under a permanent license, meaning private-seeming interactions could appear in marketing or be disclosed to partners.
How other platforms handle this
"Content" means anything you or your Customers create or make available through the Service in connection with your Account, including your intellectual property (e.g. trademarks, trade names, service marks, and copyrighted works); the products or services you offer (e.g., courses, coaching, members...
By posting, uploading, inputting, providing or submitting your Content you grant Kit, its affiliated companies and necessary sublicensees permission to use your Content in connection with the operation of their Internet businesses including, without limitation, the rights to: copy, distribute, trans...
By submitting, sharing, or otherwise making User-Generated Content available through any of the Licensed Products, including by submitting User-Generated Content using UEFN, you grant Epic a royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive, sublicensable, worldwide license to use, reproduce, modi...
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"When you generate content of any kind using the Services – for example, Character responses from your own Character or other Characters, other dialogue, images, or videos (collectively "Generated Content") – then as between you and Character.AI, you own that Generated Content. In both cases, you grant Character.AI, to the fullest extent permitted under the law, a nonexclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, fully paid up, transferable, sublicensable, perpetual, irrevocable license to copy, display, upload, perform, distribute, transmit, make available, store, access, modify, exploit, commercialize and otherwise use the Character and all Generated Content for any purpose in any form, medium or technology now known or later developed, including but not limited to (i) facilitating other users' ability to interact with the Character and elicit Generated Content; (ii) promoting the Services on- or off-service; and (iii) taking all of the actions set forth above under the section entitled "Content You Submit."— Excerpt from Character.AI's Character.ai Terms of Service
REGULATORY LANDSCAPE: The assertion that users own AI-generated content is legally contested across jurisdictions, and the simultaneous grant of a perpetual commercial license to that content creates a complex rights structure. This provision may engage the EU AI Act transparency requirements around AI-generated content, GDPR data processing obligations, and CCPA/CPRA provisions regarding personal information derived from AI interactions. The FTC has expressed interest in AI disclosure and deceptive practices in this context. GOVERNANCE EXPOSURE: High. The broad commercial use right over AI-generated content, including off-service promotion, means that user conversation excerpts may appear in advertising or marketing without specific user notification. The legal question of whether AI-generated content can be owned by users (versus being uncopyrightable under U.S. Copyright Office guidance for fully AI-generated works) creates ambiguity about the enforceability and practical meaning of the ownership assertion in this provision. JURISDICTION FLAGS: The ownership of AI-generated content is actively evolving under U.S. copyright law, and the Copyright Office has issued guidance suggesting purely AI-generated works without human authorship may not be copyrightable, which could limit the practical significance of the ownership grant. EU users may have GDPR rights over personal data contained within generated content even if ownership of the content itself is unclear. California's CCPA/CPRA applies to personal information derived from or reflected in AI-generated interactions. CONTRACT AND VENDOR IMPLICATIONS: Organizations deploying Character.AI for business purposes should assess whether AI-generated content reflecting confidential business context falls under this license. The sublicense right means third-party partners of Character.AI may also access generated content, which has implications for enterprise data governance policies. COMPLIANCE CONSIDERATIONS: Compliance teams should evaluate whether the off-service promotion right requires additional consent under applicable advertising and privacy law, particularly in EU jurisdictions. Data mapping should include generated content as a category of data subject to commercial use. Organizations should consider whether employee use policies need to explicitly address the risk of sensitive business context appearing in AI-generated content subject to this license.
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Your conversations with AI characters, including what the AI says to you, fall under a perpetual commercial license that Character.AI can use to promote the service or share with third parties, even though the agreement states you own this content.
Conversations you have with AI characters on the platform may be used to promote Character.AI off-platform or shared with third parties under a permanent license, meaning private-seeming interactions could appear in marketing or be disclosed to partners.
No. ConductAtlas is an independent monitoring service. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Character.AI.