Most of the AI copyright lawsuits filed over the past two years have focused on a familiar question: Did AI companies unlawfully use copyrighted works to train their models? Authors, publishers, news organizations, and other content creators have argued that they did. The courts are only beginning to answer that question.

Now a new type of lawsuit is emerging.

According to a recent ABA Journal report, shareholders have filed derivative lawsuits against executives at Microsoft and Adobe, alleging that the companies failed to adequately disclose how they trained their AI models or accurately communicate the legal risks associated with their AI strategies. The theory is different. Rather than suing over the alleged copyright infringement itself, shareholders claim that inadequate disclosures exposed the companies to significant legal liability and ultimately harmed investors when stock prices declined.

Whether these lawsuits succeed remains to be seen. But they illustrate an important point that extends well beyond the technology industry. As businesses increasingly adopt AI, the legal risks are no longer limited to the underlying technology. They may also include disclosure obligations, corporate governance issues, and fiduciary duties owed to shareholders.

For lawyers, this development is another reminder that AI risk management is evolving rapidly. Advising clients about AI increasingly requires looking beyond questions of intellectual property and regulatory compliance. Corporate disclosures, board oversight, and enterprise risk management may become equally important pieces of the conversation.

As AI continues to reshape the business landscape, expect the litigation to evolve right alongside it. The first generation of lawsuits asked whether AI companies infringed copyrights. The next generation may ask whether companies adequately warned investors about the risks of doing so.