The U.S. Copyright Office has issued new guidance stating that works created with the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) can receive copyright protection, provided they exhibit sufficient human creativity. The report emphasizes that while AI tools can aid in the creative process, the resulting work must reflect the artist’s personal contribution to qualify for copyright. Purely machine-generated content, lacking human involvement, remains ineligible for such protection.
This clarification follows a comprehensive review initiated in 2023, during which the Copyright Office gathered input from various stakeholders, including AI developers and professionals from the entertainment industry. The office maintains that merely using AI to generate content does not automatically warrant copyright protection. The ongoing debate over AI systems utilizing copyrighted works for training purposes without explicit permission remains unresolved. The Copyright Office plans to address these complex issues in a forthcoming report.
