We missed this earlier: Can a person claim copyright over an AI-generated work? That’s the question Dr. Stephen Thaler asked in a recent lawsuit. Thaler’s Creativity Machine AI—which he created—produced a piece of art called “A Recent Entrance to Paradise”. In 2018, Thaler applied to the United States Copyright Office to claim copyright over the AI-generated work. But, the copyright office repeatedly refused to grant this request—stating that copyright could only apply to “human-made work”. [caption id="attachment_183604" align="aligncenter" width="693"] "A Recent Entrance to Paradise" | Source.[/caption] The suit followed in June 2022. Thaler disagreed, arguing that the agency had misread the purpose of US copyright laws, which would arguably protect AI-generated works. In January 2023, Thaler asked the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to overturn the copyright office's decision, or allow the AI-generated work to be registered for copyright. Why it matters: “Allowing copyright on AI-Generated Works encourages the development and use of creative AI which results in the generation of more works, and provides incentives for those works to be disseminated,” Thaler added in his petition. Paying attention to Thaler’s arguments may be necessary, especially with creative AI tools churning out more “original work” that could post legal challenges in the future. Thaler had previously moved the United States Supreme Court to overthrow a lower court’s ruling that patents can only be issued to human inventors, and not to the DABUS AI system he’d created. The Court declined to hear the suit last week. What did Thaler…
