The ruling comes amid ongoing debates about the legality of AI companies using copyrighted works to train their systems. In March, the copyright office stated that while most AI-generated works are not copyrightable, AI-assisted materials may qualify for protection in certain instances, such as if a human has selected or arranged the work in a sufficiently creative way.
Key takeaways:
- A federal judge upheld a finding from the U.S. Copyright Office that a piece of art created by AI is not open to protection, stating that copyright law has never stretched to protect works generated by technology without any guiding human hand.
- Stephen Thaler, CEO of Imagination Engines, has been pushing for protection of works created by AI. He listed an AI system as the sole creator of an artwork and applied for copyright, which was denied by the Copyright Office.
- U.S. copyright law only protects works of human creation and is designed to adapt with the times. The law emphasizes that human creativity is at the core of copyrightability, even when it is channeled through new tools or into new media.
- In March, the copyright office affirmed that most works generated by AI aren’t copyrightable but clarified that AI-assisted materials qualify for protection in certain instances, if a human “selected or arranged” it in a “sufficiently creative way that the resulting work constitutes an original work of authorship”.