The ownership of AI-generated artwork is a complex issue that raises questions about the nature of authorship and creativity. In general, AI-generated artwork cannot be copyrighted or attributed to a person, as it is not created by a human being. However, the artwork used to train the generator algorithms is often copyrighted, owned, or attributed to real human artists and creators. As a result, there may be copyright infringements when creating AI-generated art.
Recently, a federal judge rejected an attempt to copyright an artwork generated by artificial intelligence, providing insight into the broader legal war over AI-generated content. The US Copyright Office has issued a statement of policy to clarify its practices for examining and registering works that contain material generated by the use of artificial intelligence technology. According to this statement, the Office will not register works that are solely the output of an AI without any human contribution. However, if a work contains material generated by an AI in combination with human authorship, the work may be eligible for copyright registration. This suggests that the ownership of AI-generated artwork may ultimately depend on the degree of human involvement in the creative process.