Can AI Systems Own Copyrights in the USA?
If works produced by artificial intelligence systems can be protected by copyrights, that is one of the key questions that has been answered by District Court judges recently.
The answer to the Above Question is…
AI-based image generators are currently one of the most popular applications of AI. After the user specifies which image to produce, these generators “create” a variety of images using uploaded databases.
Independent Production
In the present instance, computer programmer Stephen Thaler filed a copyright application for an image produced by the AI-powered Creativity Machine that he titled “A Recent Entrance to Paradise.”
According to Thaler’s submission to the US Copyright Office, the image was produced independently by a computer algorithm operating on a machine.
His application was rejected by the Copyright Office. It decided that the artwork did not have a copyright because an AI system was the only one that created it, without any intellectual guidance from a human actor.
Artificial Intelligence and Copyright Context
Thaler filed an appeal with the court after rejecting the Copyright Office’s ruling. The court upheld its ruling, basing it on the Copyright Office’s guidelines in this area.
It decided that having human intervention during the creative process is necessary to secure copyright protection for a work of art.
The court decided that Thaler was not entitled to protection because he did not participate in the development of the image.
The court also decided that Thaler was not entitled to copyright protection since, unlike persons or businesses, computerised AI systems are not allowed to possess copyrights. This is accurate even if the Thaler gave the AI system the instructions on what to develop and how to create it.
In this respect, it is also important to note that the verdict makes no mention of the minimum level of human involvement required to establish that an image was created by human.
This decision follows one that was made in a similar manner by the US Copyright office. In that instance, Kris Kashtanova used the Midjourney AI system to assist in the creation of a graphic novel titiled, “Zarya of the Dawn.”
The copyright Office determined that although the graphic novel was a work that may be protected by copyright, the individual pictures are not.
Current Situation in Israel
The Israeli Ministry of Justice takes a less firm stance than the US. It maintains that creations made with AI are not entirely shielded from legal action for violating intellectual property rights.
Instead, every case needs to be evaluated on its own merits, and the work in question needs to be contrasted with other works that have previously been added to the databases.
Hence, it is advised to carefully consider copyright considerations, while developing and utilising AI systems, because of ongoing changes in legal perspectives.
