Generative AI coding assistants (ACAs) are widely adopted yet pose serious legal and compliance risks. ACAs can generate code governed by restrictive open-source licenses (e.g., GPL), potentially exposing companies to litigation or forced open-sourcing. Few developers are trained in these risks, and legal standards vary globally, especially with outsourcing. Our article introduces DevLicOps, a practical framework that helps IT leaders manage ACA-related licensing risks through governance, incident response, and informed tradeoffs. As ACA adoption grows and legal frameworks evolve, proactive license compliance is essential for responsible, risk-aware software development in the AI era.
@article{arxiv.2508.16853,
title = {DevLicOps: A Framework for Mitigating Licensing Risks in AI-Generated Code},
author = {Pratyush Nidhi Sharma and Lauren Wright and Anne Herfurth and Munsif Sokiyna and Pratyaksh Nidhi Sharma and Sethu Das and Mikko Siponen},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2508.16853},
year = {2025}
}