The US Copyright Office says an AI can’t copyright its art

Steven Thaler and/or Creativity Machine

The US Copyright Office turned down the request to let an artificial intelligence copyright a work of art. The board reviewed the ruling against Steven Thaler last week. The board found that Thaler's image didn't include a necessary standard for protection.

The work is called A Recent Entrance to Paradise and is part of a series by Thaler. The Copyright Office found a dealbreaker in the fact that the artificial intelligence is supposed to do this with minimal human intervention.

The board's decision states that the link between the human mind and creative expression is a vital element of copyright. Courts have taken a dim view of claims that animals or divine beings can take advantage of copyright protections, as it notes. A 1997 decision says that a book of supposedly divine revelations could be protected if there was an element of human arrangement. The courts have found that non-human expression is not eligible for copyright protection.

This doesn't mean that any art with an artificial intelligence component is not eligible. Thaler emphasized that humans weren't meaningfully involved because his goal was to prove that machine-created works could receive protection. He tried to prove that artificial intelligence can patent inventions in the US. The board takes his explanation for granted. If someone tried to copyright a work by arguing it was a product of their own creativity, the outcome might be different. If Thaler follows his rejection with a lawsuit, a court could reach an alternate conclusion on his work.

The Copyright Office is highlighting the importance of human agency in machine-produced works. The limits of that conclusion could be tested for years to come as the scope of artists' work expands.