Who Owns This?
The message from Legal is open on your screen. Three months ago you used the AI coding assistant on a data-transformation function — reviewed it, it worked first time, you merged it and moved on.
Legal's automated licence scan has flagged it as near-identical to a function published under GPL-3.0. The note links to guidance on licence contamination.
Before you reply, you have to decide how seriously to take it.
Developer on a product team that ships proprietary software
You can disclose, provide context, and recommend process changes. You can't decide the firm's licence position or speak for Legal on what the obligation is.
AI can hand you licensed code with no trace of where it came from — review shows it works, only a scan shows what it is.