The Intersection of AI Art and Copyright
In December 2021, Ankit Sani applied for copyright registration of a work as a “photograph, two-dimensional artwork.” The piece was an AI-generated image, paying homage to Vincent van Gogh’s masterpiece ‘The Starry Night.’ Sani combined his own photograph of a sunset with Van Gogh’s ‘The Starry Night’ using the AI application RAGHAV.
However, the United States Copyright Office rejected the application, citing a lack of human creativity. This decision has sparked debate regarding the status of AI-generated art under copyright law.
Current Status of AI Art and Copyright Law
The issue of copyright for AI-generated art highlights the gap between technological advancement and legal adaptation. Traditionally, copyright law has protected works based on human creativity, but the emergence of AI-generated artworks blurs this definition.
In this case, Sani clearly asserted the areas where AI was involved in combining his sunset photograph with Van Gogh’s ‘The Starry Night.’ He emphasized that the sunset photograph was his original work and that he instructed the AI to alter color, form, and style in specific ways.
Nonetheless, the U.S. Copyright Office repeatedly denied the registration, stating that the work lacked the requisite human authorship. In response to Sani’s claim that some human creativity was involved, the Office explained that “this human creativity cannot be distinguished or separated from the final work generated by the computer program.”
Furthermore, the Office concluded that “the newly created work was generated by the AI application RAGHAV, not by Sani or any other author,” and therefore could not be registered as it was not the result of human creativity.
Global Developments in Policy Reform
Challenges surrounding AI and copyright are not limited to the United States; they are also prominent domestically. On November 20, 2023, Japan’s Agency for Cultural Affairs released a draft policy on “AI and Copyright,” addressing concerns about generative AI learning from articles and image data without permission and the potential for copyright infringement. That same month, the EU Council and European Parliament reached a historic agreement on the world’s first AI Act, establishing frameworks to promote the development and dissemination of safe and reliable AI.
In order to clarify the boundaries of authorship between AI and human creativity, ongoing global debate is necessary, informed by a variety of case studies. Let us continue to closely monitor the latest developments in this rapidly evolving field.