(Yicai) March 6 -- Chinese internet giant Tencent Holdings has accorded users more rights in the latest update of the user agreement for its Yuanbao artificial intelligence assistant, which recently toppled DeepSeek as the most downloaded free app on Apple’s mainland App Store, after the original terms and conditions sparked controversy over who owns the intellectual property rights of AI-generated content.

Yuanbao’s new March 4 service agreement states that the platform will not use any content uploaded to this platform nor content generated by using the service for model optimization, unless the user activates the 'Experience Optimization Plan.' If the user agrees, Tencent is granted a free, non-exclusive, worldwide license to use the content.

This is very different from the original T&Cs, which granted Tencent and its affiliates an irrevocable, transferable, sublicensable, non-exclusive, unrestricted, permanent and free license to use the content that users upload to the service platform and the content generated by the platform.

Eagle-eyed netizens spotted this at the end of February and pointed out that it meant that once users signed the agreement, they were giving Shenzhen-based Tencent and its affiliates the right to use any content they uploaded—whether it’s resold, licensed to others, or used in any other way—without geographical or time limitations. Additionally, users would not receive any compensation.

A blogger who writes novels took to microblogging site Weibo to question the fairness of the Yuanbao agreement and called on other creators of original content to stop using the app.

Many legal experts expressed concerns about the original version of the user agreement, criticizing it for giving Tencent too much freedom without properly defining the limits of their actions.

Other AI tools’ T&Cs look very different. For example, DeepSeek’s states that users retain all rights, ownership and interests in the inputs they submit. And any rights to content generated by the service belong to the user. Hangzhou-based DeepSeek may only use any inputs and outputs that it collects for service optimization, as well as for statistical analysis, troubleshooting, security risk control and other similar purposes.

Kimi’s user agreement also makes it clear that the copyright of any content inputted into Moonshot AI’s smart assistant belongs solely to the original creator.

Amid growing backlash, Tencent revised the T&Cs on March 1, and then again on March 4, giving users more control over their content.

The changes have significantly reduced Tencent’s rights to use content that is uploaded and generated by users, said Zhao Zhanling, partner at Beijing Javy Law Firm. The revised terms now limit usage to purposes related to providing, maintaining, and improving services, which is much more reasonable, he added.

In recent years, AI has developed rapidly yet the question of who owns the copyright to AI-generated content is still being debated. Legal practices are still limited, and legislation hasn’t yet caught up, so the issue remains contentious, Zhao added.

Editor: Kim Taylor