- with readers working within the Law Firm industries
On 18 January 2026, Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan No. 230-VIII "On Artificial Intelligence" dated 17 November 2025 (hereinafter — the "Law") enters into force. For the first time, the Law expressly regulates issues relating to the legal status of AI systems, their use, and liability for the results of their operation.
The purpose of the Law is to establish a legal framework for the safe and transparent use of artificial intelligence, to stimulate innovation, and to protect the rights of all participants in the digital economy. Until now, these issues had not been subject to specific regulation, which created legal uncertainty for businesses and rights holders.
According to the Law, artificial intelligence is defined as "a functional capability to imitate cognitive functions characteristic of humans, ensuring results comparable to or exceeding the results of human intellectual activity."
Images, videos, audio materials, texts, or combinations thereof that are created or modified by an artificial intelligence system and that imitate the appearance, voice, behavior of a natural person, or events that did not actually occur, are classified as synthetic outputs of AI systems.
The authorized state body in the field of artificial intelligence is the Ministry of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
The Law establishes key principles for the use of artificial intelligence: AI systems must operate in a transparent and secure manner, their use must not infringe the rights of third parties, and AI-generated decisions must be explainable. Liability for the actions of AI rests with the developer, owner, or user of the system, which requires companies to implement internal policies and contractual provisions to minimize legal risks.
Particular attention should be paid to Article 23 of the Law on Artificial Intelligence, which is devoted to copyright in works created using AI:
1. Copyright protection subject to human creative contribution. Works created using artificial intelligence are protected by copyright only if a human has made a creative contribution to their creation.
2. Text prompts as objects of copyright. Creatively formulated AI prompts are recognized as objects of copyright in accordance with the legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
3. Restrictions on the use of works for AI training. The use of works for training AI models does not fall under the exceptions for free use for educational or scientific purposes.
4. Respect for authors' economic and moral rights. AI training does not grant the right to reproduce, adapt, publicly display, perform, or distribute works without the consent of the right holder.
5. Consent of the author or right holder. The use of works is permitted only in the absence of a prohibition expressed in a machine-readable form.
For businesses, this means the need to define in advance the rights to AI-generated and AI-used content, to take into account the creative contribution of employees, and to respect third-party rights when training AI models.
We recommend assessing current digital content creation processes and, where necessary, preparing contracts and internal policies in order to protect your rights to AI-related content and reduce legal risks.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
