I think their comment was to the contrary, that the copyright/legal implications of 'stolen' code could seriously hobble the wider development, proliferation, adoption, and commercialization of AI software.
Maybe I misunderstood, but the comment seemed to dismiss copyright issues as a cheap way to kill AI ("soft underbelly"). I think stealing code is a pretty serious deal and the onus is on AI software companies to make sure they aren't doing it; it's not "slowing the development of AI" to keep them accountable.