On July 15, 2026, Tongfang CNKI Digital Technology Co., Ltd. released a statement revealing that certain journals had recently credited AI systems, including DeepSeek and Gemini, as authors of academic papers. This practice has ignited debates concerning copyright and adherence to academic standards. In response, CNKI has taken action to remove such papers from its platform.

CNKI clarified that AI lacks the legal standing of a civil entity and is thus incapable of shouldering academic responsibilities. Consequently, AI does not fulfill the criteria set forth by copyright law. The copyright for content generated by AI should rightfully belong to the researchers involved. CNKI mandates that the authors of academic papers must be either natural persons or organizations, with AI being relegated to the role of a supplementary tool. Additionally, the utilization of AI must be transparently disclosed within the papers. Any papers failing to comply with this requirement will not be published.