The developer got busy, the monthly fee went up, or the company wanted to change one thing and learned that the system lived in an account it could not open. That is often when an owner first asks who owns custom software they paid for.
It is an easy problem to prevent, and the time to prevent it is before the last invoice is paid.
Who owns the code by default?
Not necessarily you. The US Copyright Office says the author of a work is ordinarily the person who created it, and a work you commission becomes yours only under a written agreement. Paying the invoice is not enough.
So the contract needs one plain sentence: when the work is paid for, it belongs to your company. If the agreement you were sent does not have one, ask for it.
This page is practical guidance, not legal advice. For anything you plan to sell or license, have a lawyer read the agreement.
Who owns code written with AI tools?
The same contract decides it. The US Copyright Office has said that material produced entirely by AI, with no human authorship, is not protected by copyright, so ask a lawyer if you plan to sell the software itself. For a system you use inside your business, what matters is that you hold the code and the accounts.
What does “owning it” include?
More than the code. A system that runs in a business is made of several parts, and each can end up in someone else’s name.
Think of it as the difference between owning a shop and owning only the sign. You need the code, the place it runs, the AI account that powers it, the logins it uses to reach your software, and the data it has collected. Miss one, and you depend on whoever holds it.
What should be in your name before the last invoice?
Eight things. Check each one yourself before you pay the final invoice.
| What | Why it matters | How to check |
|---|---|---|
| The code, in a repository your company owns | Whoever holds the code can change the system | Log in to the account yourself and see the files |
| The hosting account | It is where the system runs. If it lapses, the system stops | The bill arrives at your company, on your card |
| The AI provider account and its keys | Usage is billed here, and the keys can be switched off | You can see the usage and the monthly cost |
| Every login the system uses to reach your software | These open your ERP, your email and your files | You hold a list of them, and each was created by your company |
| The data the system stores | Orders, messages and records it has collected | You know where it is kept and can export it |
| The instructions the AI follows | They hold what the system learned about your business | They are in files you can open and read |
| A written description of how it works | The next person needs it to fix or change anything | It says how to restart the system and who to call |
| A contract line assigning the work to you | Without it, the default may not favor you | You can point to the sentence |
What does lock-in look like before it happens?
It shows up in the proposal. Watch for these:
- The system will run “on our platform.”
- One monthly fee covers everything and nobody can say what is inside it.
- You are offered a dashboard and no access to the accounts behind it.
- Questions about a handover get vague answers.
A monthly fee is not the problem. Paying a builder to host and look after a system is a fair arrangement, as long as you could take the system elsewhere and it would keep running.
What is fair for the builder to keep?
Their own tools. Developers bring code they have written before and reuse on every job, and they should keep it. A fair arrangement gives you the right to use those parts for as long as you run the system, while everything written for your business is yours. Ask for that split in writing.
How does Airu Labs handle ownership?
At Airu Labs the client owns the code and the accounts the system runs on. We offer hosting and ongoing support, with no lock-in.
The clearest example is the website we built for CK Academy. At the handover the site’s files went to them, and they now edit the site themselves by asking Claude Code in plain English. They pay $0 a month in platform or retainer fees.
Airu Labs builds custom AI systems for small and mid-size companies, wired into the software they already use. Ownership is question 9 of our ten questions to ask before you hire an AI developer. To talk through a system you are planning, or one you are stuck with, book a 30-minute call.