Artists can copyright work they create using tools powered by artificial intelligence, as long as sufficient human creativity is involved, according to a new report from the U.S. Copyright Office.
The report, published Wednesday, sought to address questions of copyrightability for work created by AI or with the help of AI-powered tools, amid an uptick in copyright applications for AI-generated work.
The Copyright Office said it makes decisions on a case-by-case basis but clarified that it will approach such questions by examining the degree of human input and creativity in each work.
According to the report, an artist’s work may be copyrightable, in whole or in part, in circumstances “where AI is used as a tool, and where a human has been able to determine the expressive elements they contain.”
However, work generated entirely by an AI system would not be granted copyright protection. For example, works created by a chatbot or AI system in response to someone’s prompt “at this stage are unlikely to satisfy those requirements.”
“The use of a machine as a tool does not negate copyright protection, but the resulting work is copyrightable only if it contains sufficient human-authored expressive elements,” the report read.
The report follows an extensive review of copyright law that also invited input from artists, AI developers and other members of the public interested in the law’s application to AI technology.
The report concluded that existing laws “are adequate and appropriate to resolve questions of copyrightability” and that no additional laws are needed despite the proliferation of the new technology.
“Copyright law has long adapted to new technology and can enable case-by-case determinations as to whether AI-generated outputs reflect sufficient human contribution to warrant copyright protection,” the report read.
