AI Creates A Beautiful Work Of Art But Can’t Copyright It
The U.S. Copyright Office (USCO) has once again rejected copyright to a work of art created by an Artificial Intelligence (AI). Dr. Stephen Thaler tried to copyright a piece of art created by his AI called ‘A Recent Entrance to Paradise.’
This appeal is Thaler’s second attempt after a 2019 ruling by the USCO. The board noted that the image created by Thaler’s AI didn’t include an element of “human authorship,” which is unconstitutional.
Thaler’s AI algorithm, known as Creativity Machine, made the image a simulated near-death experience. The AI reprocesses pictures to create hallucinatory images depicting the afterlife. The image is also a part of a bigger series that you view from right here.
AI Copyright issues
The AI algorithm creates these images with minimal human intervention, which is a problem for the USCO. The board considers “the nexus between the human mind and creative expression” essential for copyright. The current copyright law only offers protections to “the fruits of intellectual labor” that “are founded in the creative powers of the human mind.”
Therefore, a copyrighted work must be created by a human and not be produced by a machine. Thaler argues that he purposefully didn’t involve humans because he wanted to prove that machine-created works could receive copyright.
He has also tried to test the copyright and patent laws in several countries. Thanks to that, Australia and South Africa have granted Thaler’s AI a patent for one of the products last year. This will set a precedence for AI-created images and their copyrights in the future.
