Copyright Law and AI - Report from US Copyright Office

The US Copyright Office has just issued a report regarding ai content created via prompts ("prompt engineering"). The conclusion of the report is shown below. Here's the one sentence summary (written by a human):

Content produced via a prompt cannot be copyrighted, but if you make changes to the ai-generated output, then those changes can be copyrighted.


V. CONCLUSION of Copyright Office Report
Based on the fundamental principles of copyright, the current state of fast-evolving technology, and the information received in response to the NOI, the Copyright Office concludes that existing legal doctrines are adequate and appropriate to resolve questions of copyrightability. Copyright law has long adapted to new technology and can enable case-by-case determinations as to whether AI-generated outputs reflect sufficient human contribution to warrant copyright protection. As described above, in many circumstances these outputs will be copyrightable in whole or in part—where AI is used as a tool, and where a human has been able to determine the expressive elements they contain. Prompts alone, however, at this stage are unlikely to satisfy those requirements. The Office continues to monitor technological and legal developments to evaluate any need for a different approach.

Full report: https://copyright.gov/ai/Copyright-and-Artificial-Intelligence-Part-2-Copyrightability-Report.pdf

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