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Copyright Considerations In Artificial Intelligence

By Shaleen J. Patel and Sushmitha Rajeevan
August 01, 2020

Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies use tremendous amounts of information to learn, refine and filter data that is then used to generate an output. The process, commonly referred to as "machine learning," allows certain AI to create entirely new content based upon the materials it used to learn. For example, in 2016 AI was trained to replicate and produce original paintings based upon works of renowned artist Rembrandt van Rijn. In the process of creating new content, AI, which has moved into the entertainment industry, may create copies of copyrighted works in memory storage as a byproduct of its overall output sequence. This article explores authorship and ownership of such AI-generated content, and to what extent, if any, can copyrights be infringed upon when AI reproduces copyrighted works for machine learning.

Under 17 U.S.C. §201, the ownership of a copyright in an original work is determined by identifying the author of a work. Specifically, the author of a work owns the rights associated with an original work of expression. Under the law, the author — and copyright-holder — is the individual (or individuals) who creates the work and fixes it in a tangible medium. However, what happens when the "author" of a copyrightable work is not human? More specifically, who or what is entitled to claim the ownership when an original work is created by AI?

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