AI-Created Art Isn’t Copyrightable by Winston Cho
There is no magic in how AI creates new works as it is based on prior art in the learned model. This is arguably not different from how humans derive new art, but I am pleased that we are not rushing to give the output of these algorithms human status with copyright protections.
A federal judge on Friday upheld a finding from the U.S. Copyright Office that a piece of art created by AI is not open to protection. The ruling was delivered in an order turning down Stephen Thaler’s bid challenging the government’s position refusing to register works made by AI. Copyright law has “never stretched so far” to “protect works generated by new forms of technology operating absent any guiding human hand,” U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell found.
The opinion stressed, “Human authorship is a bedrock requirement.”