Can I train an AI model on Apache 2.0 material?
Short answer: Training a model: Needs review. Training a model you use commercially: Needs review.
Apache License 2.0 (Apache-2.0): Use, reproduce, modify, sublicense and distribute for any purpose, with an express patent license; keep notices, include the license and mark changed files.
Training a model: Needs review
License: Apache License 2.0 (Apache-2.0, curated)
- The license grants broad rights but attaches conditions (such as keeping notices) to copies and adaptations. Whether a trained model, or its output, is a copy or adaptation that carries those conditions is legally unsettled, and in some places training may fall under an exception such as fair use. A human reviewer should confirm this use for your case.
Duties: attribution, license_notice, state_changes
Training a model you use commercially: Needs review
License: Apache License 2.0 (Apache-2.0, curated)
- The license grants broad rights but attaches conditions (such as keeping notices) to copies and adaptations. Whether a trained model, or its output, is a copy or adaptation that carries those conditions is legally unsettled, and in some places training may fall under an exception such as fair use. A human reviewer should confirm this use for your case.
Duties: attribution, license_notice, state_changes
Context
- Whether a trained model is a copy or adaptation of its training data is legally unsettled; where the license does not settle it, Rightshold marks training for human review instead of guessing.
- Includes an express patent license that ends for anyone who sues over patents in the work (section 3).
- Does not grant rights to the licensor's trademarks (section 6).
Sources
Check it yourself (free, no key)
{
"tool": "check_license",
"arguments": {
"license": "Apache-2.0",
"intended_use": {
"model_training": true
}
}
}Computed from Rightshold's license profiles; not legal advice. Updated 2026-10-19. JSON · Markdown