Before I answer the question an introductory note. I normally spend 2-3 hrs. a month researching, writing, and posting this blog. As you will learn below, I’ve could have written a quick blog with the answer to this question using CHATGPT in less than a minute. It’s better my blog or the AI-Generated answer? 🤷‍♂️ Time will tell! 😂. In the opinion of, at a times, wise man, “humans are underrated,’ ‘excessive automation’ a ‘mistake’”

“Copyright protection exist in original works of authorship fixed in any tangible medium of expression, now known or later developed, from which they can be perceived, reproduced, or otherwise communicated, either directly or with the aid of a machine or device”

“Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by non-human animals and humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speech recognition, computer vision, translation between (natural) languages, as well as other mappings of inputs.”

The case of Naruto, a crested macaque in Indonesia, ratified that the owner of a copyright must be a “human”. In 2011, Naruto, took several photos of himself (selfies) with a camera belonging to a photographer.  The U.S Copyright Office updated their guidelines to indicate “The U.S. Copyright Office will register an original work of authorship, provided that the work was created by a human being.” Also clarified that “The Office will not register works produced by nature, animals, or plants. Likewise, the Office cannot register a work purportedly created by divine or supernatural beings”. Thus, the answer to the question is no.

However, the source code of the AI created by human can be protected under copyright and under limited conditions as patent.

Music, art, articles, essays, books can be created using AI. If the current guidelines that protection only exist for “human generated works” what will happen to all these AI-generated content, will they be free for all to use?

AIs do not “create” something completely new out of nothing, previously generated copyrighted content it is used to train AIs. Being that the case, will those copyright holders be compensated for the use of their copyrighted materials to train the Ais that generate the “new content”?

Stock images websites such as Shutterstock are making available to their users AI tools to generate content.

Using Shutterstock AI we typed “Miami Skyline” and hit enter and in less than a minute several images were “created”. One being this one.

With the following disclaimers.

“Image created by Shutterstock Generate. 

AI-generated content – usage rules apply.

Oil painting artistic image of the rise of tourism in Miami

This content was generated by an Artificial Intelligence (AI) system.

Shutterstock does not review AI-generated content for compliance with Shutterstock’s content compliance standards. AI-generated content may not be used to infringe, misappropriate, or violate the intellectual property or other rights of any third party, to generate spam, false, misleading, deceptive, harmful, or violent imagery.”

It is me the “creator” or is it Shutterstock AI?

I also asked CHATGPT AI to “explain copyright protection of AI-generated content”.

The answer:

“Copyright protection for AI-generated content can be complex, as the law regarding the ownership of such works may vary depending on the jurisdiction. In general, the laws of copyright give the creators of original works the exclusive right to use and reproduce those works, subject to certain limitations.

When it comes to AI-generated content, the question of who is considered the “author” and therefore entitled to copyright protection can be difficult to answer. Some countries, such as the United States, have adopted the position that works created by computers or other automated processes are not eligible for copyright protection because they are not the result of human authorship. However, in some other jurisdictions, such as the European Union, the concept of “authorship” has been broadened to include works created with the assistance of computers, as long as they are original and involve some level of human creativity.

In practice, the question of who holds the copyright in AI-generated content may depend on the specific circumstances of the creation of the work. For example, if a human provides input or makes decisions about the creation of the work, they may be considered the author and entitled to copyright protection. On the other hand, if the AI system is entirely autonomous and generates the work without any human involvement, it may be more difficult to argue that anyone holds the copyright in the work.

In conclusion, the issue of copyright protection for AI-generated content is still being debated and it may take some time for the law to catch up with the technology. In the meantime, it’s recommended that companies and individuals seeking to use AI-generated content consult with a lawyer knowledgeable in intellectual property law to determine their rights and obligations.”

CHATGPT.

I’d like to help by advising you on how to protect your intellectual property and also monitor it for potential infringing activities, and subsequently enforce those rights.