Hello, i am working on generating a synthetic dataset for machine learning purposes from Unreal Engine. I will write all the logic and code for the simulations but i will use environments and animations within the marketplace (epic content, free for the month, and generally free content). What i will end publishing (non-commercially for research) are just frames extracted from the engine along with various anotations in text format. I will not provide any executable, project etc. Is there any restriction based on the licenses to do such a thing? From what I’ve read there is no restriction except from the EPIC Games content (such as the City Sample Crowds) whitch are restricted for use only within Unreal and not other engines.
If an asset pack is tagged with “NoAI” you can’t use it for this purposes.
And I bet you that most of them are tagged with it, unless creator abandoned the product for some reason before the NoAI tag was introduced. Eg. all art-related ones from this month’s free are tagged with it.
Hello and thanks for the answear. The Unreal Engine EULA states this for the NoAI tag:
viii. collect, aggregate, mine, scrape or otherwise use NoAI Content (i) in datasets utilized by Generative AI Programs; (ii) in the development of Generative AI Programs; or (iii) as inputs to Generative AI Programs.
What i read so far its for restricting Gerative AI (e.g. models that produce or generate new content). What i am trying to do is Predictive AI (not Generative) so it will be a model that gives a prediction not generating new content (e.g. getting a frame and predicting an output).
Based on the agreement this is what epic considers as generative AI:
For purposes of this Agreement, “Generative AI Programs” means artificial intelligence, machine learning, deep learning, neural networks, or similar technologies designed to automate the generation of or aid in the creation of new content, including but not limited to audio, visual, or text-based content. Programs do not meet this definition of Generative AI Programs where they, by non-limiting example, (a) solely operate on the original content; (b) generate tags to classify visual input content; or (c) generate instructions to arrange existing content, without creating new content.
Also another question if i have an asset in my library from 2017 when there was no “noAI” option my license is what was applied in 2017 and not now.
Content that May Not be Used As Training Input Into Generative AI Programs. Content that is tagged with “NoAI” in the Epic Marketplace at the time of your Transaction is “NoAI Content .”
Because its stated as “at the time of transaction”.
I also saw the PUG dataset from META (Facebook) that was generated in Unreal Engine in 2023 they have a disclosure that it cant be used for generative AI purposes. Since the dataset is for prediction i guess the ‘noAI’ tag does not restrict predictive models, thus it align with what the EULA states.
If you are doing it for research, I’m guessing it’s some kind of phd related activity. In that case - you should have access to your university/institution lawyers. Ask them. Will probably take a while to get an answer, but this is IMO the best way to proceed and not risk ethics board wrath 
In parallel, I would sent this question to marketplace support. Be a bit more specific than here (like what methods, what assets you want to use) to make it more clear for Epic staff…
I asked the Marketplace support twice but they gave a generic answear stating that they are not able to provide legal clarifications for specific use cases. I indeed work in a research center so thats what i will do next but i am trying to gather as much information i can to help the lawyers.