Prohibition on Artificial Intelligence Training
Matern Professional Engineering expressly prohibits the use, input, or upload of any Work Products or associated material produced by the firm with any Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), or Large Language Model (LLM) system, and or any similar such system with generative properties or capabilities, for the purposes of training, fine-tuning, improving, or modifying said system, or generating derivative, duplicate, or similar works or products. This restriction applies to both proprietary AI models and publicly available AI platforms.
Work products, as referenced above, means all documents, drawings, specifications, calculations, plans, models, calculations, reports, text, specifications, data, and other tangible materials produced by or on behalf of Matern, in whole or in part, in any media of expression now known or later developed (including without limitation written or digital form. This policy applies to completed documents and also individual components of completed documents including schedules, details, diagrams, schematics, blocks, families, and text content of any kind including specification language, drawing notes, schedule remarks, sequences of operation, and report content. The Work Product constitutes the proprietary professional work product of Matern which is provided solely for use in connection with the Project. The Work Product is not permitted for use as inputs for any AI System for purposes of reverse engineering, design modification or duplication, or generation of substitute engineering documents or specifications. Failure to comply with any provision of this shall constitute a copyright infringement and subject to legal action.
Except with Matern’s prior express written consent, which may be withheld for any reason or no reason in Matern’s sole discretion, shall any entity, or other third-party, upload, input, submit, transmit, analyze, train upon, or otherwise use any Work Product in connection with any AI System, including without limitation the use of Work Product for purposes of (i) analysis or interpretation by AI Systems; (ii) automated design generation; (iii) automated value engineering; (iv) model training or dataset development; (v) generation of derivative or modified engineering or construction documents or substitute designs, specifications, or calculations; and/or (vi) automated construction planning or sequencing. Failure to comply with any provision of this shall constitute a copyright infringement and subject to legal action.
Third-Party Platforms
Uploads of Matern’s Work Products, as defined above, or associated material produced by the firm to any third-party cloud-based platform, project management software, or file conversion tool, with embedded or cloud based generative properties or capabilities is also prohibited without express written consent from Matern. Any party doing so, upon receipt of consent, warrants that said platform’s Terms of Service do not grant the platform provider, or the uploading party, the right to use the uploaded data to train or improve artificial intelligence or machine learning algorithms. Uploading party assumes all liability for any breach of confidentiality, intellectual property rights, or copy write restrictions resulting from the use of such platforms. Matern reserves the right to request access to the full terms and conditions of any and all agreements between uploading party and the platform provider for review prior to issuance of consent.
Please reach us at info@matern.net if you cannot find an answer to your question.
Not at all. In fact, we use AI tools internally to improve our own efficiency. However, this clause is about Data Security. Public AI models capture everything uploaded to them and use that data to train their systems. If we, or you, upload the electrical schematics or security layouts for a building into a public model, that sensitive data essentially becomes public property. This clause protects your project's security and our proprietary engineering standards.
Yes and no. You can use it to summarize meeting minutes, but not to review our specifications. AI's interpretation is outside our control. AI models are known to 'hallucinate' and they can confidently invent code citations or misread technical numbers. If you use an AI tool to review our specs or summarize our report and the AI misses a critical safety warning, we cannot be held liable for that omission. Furthermore, any formal reviews we are contracted to provide responses or design modifications based on must be conducted by a human.
The engineering industry is moving quickly to address this. Because our work involves 'Instruments of Service', including detailed technical calculations and life-safety designs, we have a higher duty of care than some other vendors. We are being proactive to prevent intellectual property disputes and liability issues down the road. It ensures clear ownership of the data for both of us.
As the party that contracted us to provide design services, yes, you are the final owner of the work product we provide. In practice, this means you own the individual design documents generated specific to the project or projects that were executed under the individual contract. It does NOT mean that you own the intellectual property or internal trade secrets that were used to generate the design. This relationship is akin to any commercially available product. For example, when you purchase a new car, you own that one iteration of the make and model produced. However, you do not own the design of the car’s engine or other components, nor do you own the trademark or copyright-protected branding associated with marketing the car.
No. Our policy is inclusive of all work products produced by Matern throughout the firm’s existence and extends to work completed before the advent of generative AI. While the broader legal implications of the technology are still to be determined, there is extensive legal precedent that supports this position. Books published before the copy machine was invented, movies produced before the VCR was invented, and songs released before the CD burner were invented are all still protected by copyrights, trademarks, and other intellectual property protections. The same applies to engineering designs.
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