An anti-AI clause is a contract term that bans, limits or requires disclosure of AI tools in the work you deliver. Some are easy to accept. Others quietly move all the legal risk onto you. Read the shape of the clause first, because a ban on AI output, a duty to disclose and an IP warranty need three different answers.
The four shapes an AI clause takes
Most AI clauses fit one of four templates, and the wording tells you how much trouble you are in.
The first is a full prohibition: "The supplier shall not use artificial intelligence or machine learning tools in creating the deliverables." Read literally, that bans most modern software. Spellcheck, photo editors, code editors and search engines all ship AI features now. Either the clause needs a definition or the client needs to say what they actually fear.
The second is an output prohibition: "No part of the deliverables shall consist of AI-generated content." This looks at what you hand over, not at how you worked. You can still use AI for research and rough drafts as long as the final work is substantively yours. This is the version most clients mean when they write the first one badly.
The third is a disclosure duty: "The supplier shall disclose any use of generative AI, including the tool and the parts affected." It is the lightest burden, and it mirrors where regulation is heading. Tool-level disclosure is reasonable. Prompt-level disclosure is unusual and worth pushing back on.
The fourth is a warranty about training data: "The supplier warrants that the deliverables do not infringe third-party rights, including through AI tools trained on copyrighted material." It does not ban anything. It makes you answer for how an AI vendor trained its model, which you cannot check. Paired with an unlimited indemnity, this is the clause that can hurt a small business most.
Why clients are adding these clauses
Clients add them because someone above them is nervous, and the nervousness has three sources.
Regulation is the first. The EU AI Act's Article 50 sets transparency duties: deployers must disclose certain AI-generated or AI-manipulated content, and providers must mark synthetic output in a machine-readable way (EU AI Act, Article 50). The Commission has also worked on a Code of Practice on marking and labelling AI-generated content. A client who publishes in the EU may push those duties down to the people who supply the work. The Act sets fines for breaking Article 50 of up to EUR 15 million or 3% of worldwide annual turnover, whichever is higher, though SMEs get the lower of the two (). The Act has been subject to timing changes, so check the current application date for the specific obligation before you quote it to a client.
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The Delivvo team
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Copyright is the second. US law protects human authorship. The Copyright Office's January 2025 report says AI output is protectable where a human's work is perceptible in it or where a human arranges or modifies it, "but not the mere provision of prompts" (US Copyright Office, NewsNet 1060). In March 2026 the Supreme Court declined to hear Thaler v. Perlmutter, which leaves the D.C. Circuit's human-authorship ruling in place (Mayer Brown). A client who buys work that nobody can own has bought less than they thought.
Reputation is the third. Brands that sell craft, expertise or original thinking do not want a screenshot of their supplier's chatbot history going around.
Who owns work that was partly made by AI
If part of a deliverable was generated with no meaningful human authorship, that part may belong to no one under US law. A contract that says "all rights in the deliverables transfer to the client on payment" promises something that may not exist for that part.
This matters for your wording. Assign every right you hold. Do not warrant that you own something the law may treat as unownable. The practical version looks like this: you transfer all intellectual property rights you hold in the deliverables on final payment, and the client accepts that parts generated solely by an AI tool, without enough human authorship, may not be protected by copyright. The longer discussion of assignment is in who owns freelance work.
A hand signing a contract with a pen on a desk
Keep a plain record of where AI touched the work. A short note in the project file (tool, stage, which parts) is enough. It protects you in a dispute and it answers a disclosure request in one minute.
How to read an AI clause before you sign
Four questions sort most clauses into accept, change or refuse.
What exactly is restricted: the tools you use, the output you deliver, or only what you must tell the client? A restriction on your internal process is much harder to comply with and prove than a restriction on the output.
Is it scoped to this project? A clause reaching into your whole workflow, or into work you delivered before the contract existed, should come out. Past work was done under past terms.
Is there a definition of AI? "Generative AI tools that produce substantive new content" is workable. An undefined "AI" is a dispute waiting for a date.
What does the indemnity look like? An AI clause with a capped indemnity is manageable. The same clause with an unlimited indemnity for any IP claim is not, because you could be answering for an AI vendor's training data. Cap the indemnity at the fees paid for the engagement.
If the clause is narrow, scoped to the output and capped, accept it and move on. If it is sweeping, undefined and uncapped, change it. If the client will not move on the cap, refuse the work.
Counter-wording you can adapt
A middle-ground clause protects the client and is something you can honestly comply with. Adapt it, and check it with your lawyer before you use it with a client:
The Supplier may use AI tools for research, ideation and drafting. Any AI-generated content that appears substantively in the deliverables will be disclosed in writing on delivery, with the tool used and the affected part. The Supplier confirms that a qualified person has reviewed the deliverables and that no output known to infringe third-party rights has been included. The Supplier's liability for AI-related IP claims is capped at the fees paid under this agreement.
Most clients accept something close to this. The ones who refuse are often under a regulator that needs a stricter form. In that case the price goes up, or the work is not a fit. If a client insists on a full ban, you have three honest options: narrow it to the output, accept it and price for the slower workflow, or decline. A premium for a real ban is reasonable because you carry the proof burden, but pick the number from your own time and risk, not from a rule of thumb. Voice and video work has its own wrinkles, covered in freelance contracts for video projects.
Habits that make compliance cheap
Three habits satisfy most AI clauses without slowing you down.
Keep a tool log per project. One paragraph at the top of the project folder: which tools, at which stage, on which parts.
Separate research from delivery. Use AI as much as you like for research and first drafts, then do the final composition and review yourself for clients with an output ban. The result is substantively human and still faster than working without any tools.
Never paste a client's confidential material into a consumer AI tool that trains on inputs. That one is a breach of the confidentiality clause you probably already signed, whatever the AI clause says. Pick tools and settings that exclude your inputs from training, and say so in the contract.
Also decide whether to disclose AI use even when nobody asks. For substantial AI content, voluntary disclosure is cheap and it keeps a quiet discovery six months later from becoming a fight. See whether to tell clients you use AI.
How Delivvo keeps AI terms in the signed record
Delivvo puts the AI clause where the client signs it, so it is agreed before work starts and stored with the project afterwards.
Build the quote from your packages and add-ons in the proposal builder, and attach your contract. Your standard AI wording lives in the contract template, so every client gets the current version, not an old copy from a folder.
Send one link. The client reads the quote and the contract on the same page and can ask questions in the client portal before they sign.
The client signs, typed or drawn. Delivvo records the signature with a SHA-256 fingerprint, IP address and device, and archives the PDF, so the AI terms you agreed are provable later.
If a client sends their own contract with a long AI schedule, upload their PDF and place the signature boxes (Business plan and up) instead of retyping it.
Keep your tool log with the project: files, versions, approvals and messages stay in one portal, so the disclosure you promised is attached to the work it describes.
Every contract carries a verification code. Anyone with the code can check the issuer, document number, dates and status on the verify page, which helps when a client's legal team asks whether the version they hold is the signed one. Contracts and signatures are unlimited, and the documents can be in Arabic and English.
Delivvo does not write legal terms for you. Treat the templates as a starting point, edit every clause, and have a lawyer look at anything that carries real risk. See how it works on the contracts and e-signatures page.
FAQ
Do anti-AI clauses cover Grammarly or spellcheck?
A sensible reading says no, because those tools do not generate substantive new content. A literal reading of a sloppy clause might include them. Ask the client to define AI as generative tools that produce new content and to exclude editing aids.
What if I use Copilot for code and the contract bans AI?
Ask what the client is worried about. Usually it is licence-tainted output and the confidentiality of their code in cloud tools. Offer a tool log, a review step and a tool with data-retention controls that meet their requirements, and ask them to confirm in writing that this satisfies the clause.
Are anti-AI clauses enforceable?
It depends on the wording and on where you are. Disclosure and warranty clauses are easy to enforce. A flat ban is hard to prove and hard to follow literally, so the real enforcement is often reputational: a client who finds out AI was used after signing a ban will not rehire you. Check it with your lawyer.
Does the EU AI Act apply to me if I am outside the EU?
It can reach output that is used in the EU market, so a non-EU supplier with EU clients may meet it through the client's contract even without a direct duty. Following the same disclosure habits with every client costs little. Confirm the current obligations and dates with a lawyer.
Should I disclose AI use if the contract does not ask?
For substantial AI content, yes. It builds trust, gives your client cover with their own stakeholders and costs far less than explaining a late discovery.
Delivvo runs the whole client cycle for service businesses, from the first inquiry to the quote, contract, deposit, invoice and delivery, so your AI terms are agreed and signed before the work starts. Clients pay you directly through your own gateway, and Delivvo takes 0%. Start free
