AI Creates Art. So We Need to Rethink How Copyright Protects Artists

The history of art is the history of technology. And generally, each time technology has advanced and helped a new medium flourish, the legal system has evolved to support the artists pushing the boundaries of human creativity. Yet our approach to the newest frontier—works created with generative artificial intelligence—threatens to unwind over 100 years of legal precedent, endangering emerging artists and stagnating creativity.

Policymakers and courts should recognize media created with AI for what it truly is: human creativity amplified by transformative technology, deserving of the same protections we’ve long granted to photography, film and other digital art.

Yet the current guidance by the U.S. Copyright Office demands that creators using AI control every expressive detail in AI outputs from start to finish—that in order to receive copyright protection, the creative elements in a work must be traceable back exclusively to the action of a human without any input or assistance from an AI model.