Navigating IP challenges in an Era of AI Generated Content

Introduction

In an era of rapid technological advancement, artificial intelligence (AI) has permeated nearly every aspect of human life, fundamentally altering the way creative works are produced. AI’s role in content creation has given rise to significant legal concerns, particularly in the realm of intellectual property (IP) law. Copyright law, which is traditionally designed to protect the rights of human creators, faces new challenges in determining how to apply its principles to AI-generated or AI-assisted works. Key questions arise, such as: Who owns AI-assisted works? Can AI-generated content be considered original enough to warrant copyright protection? This article explores these issues and examines how different jurisdictions are addressing the complexities of AI in intellectual property law.

Who Owns AI-Generated or Assisted Works?

In the United States, the Copyright Office issued guidance in March 2023 affirming that copyright protection is reserved exclusively for content produced through human creativity. The term “author” explicitly excludes non-human entities, a position reinforced in previous cases, such as the well-known “monkey selfie”[1] did case, where a photograph taken by a non-human was deemed ineligible for copyright protection due to the absence of human authorship. According to the U.S. Copyright Office guidance[2], when AI autonomously generates an image (or other complex work) based on a human prompt, the technology—not the human user—is responsible for the creative process, rendering the output ineligible for copyright protection. However, if a work contains AI-generated material but includes substantial human input, then the work may be eligible for copyright protection. The threshold for “sufficient” human involvement remains a grey area and is currently evaluated on a case-by-case basis.