Copyright Office Report Affirms Copyright Applies Only to Human-Made Work
The U.S. Copyright Office has released the second part of its intended three-part Report on Copyright and Artificial Intelligence, which addresses whether AI-generated works can obtain copyright protection. The report maintains that copyright requires human authorship and that “material generated wholly by AI is not copyrightable.” The report also notes that no U.S. court has so far recognized copyrights in works created by generative AI.
The report notes, however, that copyrightability may apply to a work where AI is used as an assistive technology, such as to brainstorm ideas, assist with editing, or transcribe speech. It also says works created by human arranging or modification of AI-generated content are copyrightable.
The Copyright Office's AI initiative was launched in early 2023 with the aim of providing copyright guidance for works incorporating AI-generated content. The first part of the report, published in 2024, addressed the topic of digital replicas, or deepfakes. A third part is planned to address the training of AI models on copyrighted works.
