What is the TDM exception and opt-out?
The EU’s text and data mining (TDM) exceptions (Digital Single Market Directive, Articles 3–4) allow reproduction of lawfully accessed works for mining: research organisations broadly (Art. 3), everyone else including commercial AI training under Art. 4, unless the rights-holder has reserved its rights. That reservation is the opt-out: for online content it must be machine-readable (robots.txt-style signals, metadata, terms).
Why it defines AI training legality in the EU
- Commercial model training on scraped web content relies on Art. 4, so opt-out compliance is the legal boundary;
- AI Act Article 53 requires GPAI providers to maintain a copyright policy honouring these reservations, making compliance documented and auditable;
- “It was publicly available” is not the test; lawful access plus no reservation is.
The Türkiye contrast
FSEK contains no TDM exception: training on protected works in Türkiye rests on licensing or narrower grounds, which is why we advise running EU-grade opt-out hygiene globally. See our copyright analysis.
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