THOSE DAMNED BOTS

Is AI-Generated Content Illegal?

…And other bits of modern urban legend

Author prompt at Midjourney — AI-generated

Well, have you heard that AI-generated content is illegal? If you follow social media, you have by now read that it’s illegal, immoral, and possibly despicable. In this extensive exploration of the facts, we’ll try to sort out what’s true, what’s false, and what’s undecided. Come along for the ride.

Is AI-generated content illegal? The recent USCO directives

The following is a condensation of the recent rules on copyrighting AI-generated intellectual properties (yes, that could change at any moment). You can read the entire directive from the Federal Register, and you should, but we’ve condensed it here.

Background

The US Copyright Office is receiving increasing numbers of copyright registration applications for works containing AI-generated content. Some name AI or an AI platform as the author or co-author, and some say AI-assisted. It should be noted that the vast majority don’t even mention AI generative work in their applications.

So, the Office issued a statement of policy on applying copyright law’s human authorship requirement to such works. The statement provides guidance and acknowledges…