The U.S. announced Copyright Office that AI art created using text prompts, or “purely AI-generated material,” cannot be copyrighted. The decision, detailed in a report released on January 29, clarifies the ambiguity of the legal aspect of AI in the creative industries, highlighting the danger of "using AI as a substitute for the human creative process."
The report comes from an ongoing investigation into AI-generated creations that began in 2023, and took into account more than 10,000 contributions from the public – including artists, performers, directors, and musicians. The report notes that “prompts alone do not provide enough human control to turn A.I. users into authors of output. system,” although artworks created with the “assistance” of AI are protected by copyright law, and even such creations must be “reviewed case-by-case.” However, the message is clear: artworks need to show at least some human presence in the creative process.
This decision exacerbates and puts an end to the controversy behind the famous “Théâtre D’opéra Spatial” by Jason Allen, an AI-generated creation that won first place in the “Digital Art” category at the Colorado State Fair in 2022 and caused controversy in the art world. In October 2024, Allen filed a lawsuit against the Copyright Office after repeatedly failing to register his creation, claiming others were "blatantly stealing" his work.
“The use of A.I. as an auxiliary tool or the incorporation of A.I.-generated content into a larger copyrightable work does not affect the copyrightability of the entire work,” the report said. “But the capabilities of the latest generative A.I. technologies raise difficult questions about the nature and scope of creative authorship.”
Ang desisyon na ito ay nagtatakda ng landas para sa pagtrato ng AI art at ang konsepto ng “authorship.” Habang patuloy na “binabantayan ng opisina ang mga teknikal at legal na pag-unlad” na may kinalaman sa AI art, pinapayuhan nito laban sa mga malalaking pagbabago sa batas: “Dahil ang pagsusuri ng kakayahang magkaproteksyon ng copyright ay nangangailangan ng pagsusuri sa bawat likha at ang konteksto ng paggawa nito, ang mga wika sa batas ay may limitadong kakayahan na magbigay ng mas malinaw na mga linya.”
