Copyright Office Weighs In on AI Use in Creative Works
By Movieguide® Contributor
Artists who use artificial intelligence can copyright works created with the help of the technology, the U.S. Copyright Office recently announced in a decision that has major ramifications for Hollywood.
In a report that “sets out the legal principles that govern the analysis and assesses their application to AI-generated content,” the Copyright Office confirmed that “The use of AI tools to assist rather than stand in for human creativity does not affect the availability of copyright protection for the output.”
“Copyright protects the original expression in a work created by a human author, even if the work also includes AI-generated material,” the document reads, concluding that “the outputs of generative AI can be protected by copyright only where a human author has determined sufficient expressive elements.”
Variety reported that this decision marks a “significant event in the two-year debate over AI in the creative fields.”
In 2023, the Copyright Office asked for input about AI’s role in creativity. Over 10,000 comments from artists and musicians argued that AI steals their work.
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“After considering the extensive public comments and the current state of technological development, our conclusions turn on the centrality of human creativity to copyright,” said Shira Perlmutter, Register of Copyrights and Director of the U.S. Copyright Office.
This means that a work created by simply putting a prompt into a chatbot or AI image generator will not be covered by copyright laws.
“Extending protection to material whose expressive elements are determined by a machine…would undermine rather than further the constitutional goals of copyright,” Perlmutter added.
This will have a major impact in Hollywood. The Motion Picture Association previously opposed the Copyright Office’s initial decision two years ago that AI-generated material was not eligible for copyright.
“Artists have expressed enthusiasm for AI tools that enhance their work, and for continued technological development of these and similar tools,” the MPA wrote. “In short, the use of AI technology presents developing opportunities for creators and their audiences. MPA’s members are optimistic about that future.”
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