On 16 March 2023 the US Copyright Office announced the launch of a new initiative aimed at examining the problems connected to the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the creation of works of art and to face the issue of the use of copyright protected materials for training the AI.
Interaction between art and AI: the debate cannot be deferred any longer
In its press release, the US copyright Office states that this initiative is a direct response to the requests for clarification and intervention brought by the operators of the artistic field, by the public and the Congress of the United States, which are joined by the growing applications for registration of works created with AI or by AI itself.
How to register works created with AI
To face the issues on copyright and registrations raised by these works, the Office published the first guide for their registration. The guide clarifies that the applicants must expressly declare that the work for which the registration is sought includes content generated by an artificial intelligence.
Through many practical examples, the guide explains how to fill out the registration application correctly, how to update the pending applications and how to correct the public record of the copyright claims which have already been registered without the necessary disclosure.
For example, it is specified that the applicant who embed a text generated by an artificial intelligence in a broader textual work must specify the parts of the textual work created by a human. On the contrary, the applicant who creatively arranges human and non-human content in the same work, must fill out the registration application specifying in the appropriate section that it is a coordination of contents some of human origin and other generated by an artificial intelligence, synthetically describing both.
The guide points out also that the AI technology (or the company who provided it) may not be indicated as author or co-author of the work.
Public consultation organized by the Office
The guide represents only a first step in the search of a common path in the management of the works created with significant contribution of new technologies.
As a matter of fact, the US Copyright Office is absolutely aware of the impossibility to face this issue by analyzing it only from a single point of view. For this reason, it is hosting many public listening sessions with artists, creative industries, developers, researchers and jurists to discuss together the main needs and worries connected to the issue of AI in the creative fields.
At the end of the listening sessions, expected for the end of this month, the Office will continue to involve the public through informative webinars during the summer.
In support of this initiative, the Office also launched a new web page for ads, events and resources related to AI, inviting all users to participate in the debate by submitting contributions and opinions.
Ilaria Feriti