AI Content With Human Editing Is Eligible To Be Copyrighted In US
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Copyright remains a thorny issue in the AI space. Legislation projects are still in development, but new and more powerful AI capabilities render them obsolete before implementation. In an attempt to clarify things, the US Copyright Agency has confirmed that AI-generated content is eligible to be copyrighted in the US if it was subsequently edited or used to edit pre-existing content.
AI-generated content requires post-editing and/or use in pre-existing content edition to be copyrighted
The US Copyright Office’s (USCO) second report on copyright and artificial intelligence focuses primarily on how to determine whether AI outputs can be copyrighted. According to the agency, images or movies entirely generated by artificial intelligence cannot be filed for copyright. The key factor is human involvement, the report states. The USCO does not consider the mere writing of a prompt, for example, to be human involvement.
In contrast, an AI output that received human editing to add significant modifications may be eligible for copyright protection. This also applies to cases where authors have turned to AI to add modifications to part of an existing work or content. The USCO report gives as an example the AI-powered rejuvenation systems that some film producers use for actors. This could also apply when AI is used to fill in a few seconds of a particular scene. In these cases, the producer can register the film to receive copyright protection.
However, one cannot copyright an AI-generated short film without any post-editing. Some might argue with this, though, as they might consider the prompt writing as part of the human creative process.
Each case requires a specific evaluation
Ultimately, what ‘s important is that AI is a support tool for the creative process. Leaving all the work to LLMs automatically renders the content ineligible for copyright protection under this policy. Even with these general guidelines, the agency says that each case deserves a specific evaluation. The USCO must carefully analyze whether the level of human involvement in an AI output is significant enough.
