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AI and Copyright

Adapted from North Seattle College's Library Guide on AI by Peter Oliver

What is copyright?

Copyright is a form of legal protection for creators and authors. It gives exclusive rights for reproducing, distributing, performing, and earning money from a piece of work (a book, song, play, design, etc.). Copyright gives creators control over how their work is used and who can copy it. 

While this may seem straightforward, many artists employ assistants to carry out their ideas and produce works of art. The artists, not their assistants, get credit and money for the work. In the music industry, performers are often credited as the writers of the songs they sing. However, they did not necessarily compose, arrange, or produce the song.  Who is credited as the creator then impacts who collects a share of the performance royalties (IU Newsroom, 2023). This is just one example of how complex copyright can be, even without AI!

Current legal landscape

The U.S. Copyright Office released a report, Copyright and Artificial Intelligence, Part 2 Copyrightability in 2025. Highlights from the executive summary are below:

  • Current copyright law applies: "Questions of copyrightability and AI can be resolved pursuant to existing law, without the need for legislative change.”

  • Copyright applies to AI-assisted products: “Copyright protects the original expression in a work created by a human author, even if the work also includes AI-generated material.”

  • Copyright does not apply to AI-generated content: “Copyright does not extend to purely AI-generated material, or material where there is insufficient human control over the expressive elements.”

  • Prompts alone do not count as human authorship: “Based on the functioning of current generally available technology, prompts do not alone provide sufficient control.”  

  • What counts as human authorship: “Human authors are entitled to copyright in their works of authorship that are perceptible in AI-generated outputs, as well as the creative selection, coordination, or arrangement of material in the outputs, or creative modifications of the outputs.”

  • Lots of grey areas: “Whether human contributions to AI-generated outputs are sufficient to constitute authorship must be analyzed on a case-by-case basis.”

Generative AI and copyright: a moving target

In general, copyright does not apply to materials created by machines or mechanical processes without substantial creative work by a human author. For a broader perspective on copyright, you check out this 2023 interview with a copyright librarian at Indiana University. 

There are multiple ongoing lawsuits that may impact copyright in the context of AI. The NYU Journal of Intellectual Property and Entertainment Law is a good place to check for current information. You can also visit the U.S. Copyright Office's page Copyright and Artificial Intelligence for updates.

Sources

IU Newsroom. (2023, July 11). Ask the Expert: What are legal issues surrounding AI, its impact on the arts? (Julia Hodson, Interviewer). News at IU.

U.S. Copyright Office. (2025, January 29). Copyright and artificial intelligence: Part 2 — Copyrightability (Report No. Part 2). U.S. Copyright Office.

U.S. Copyright Office. (n.d.). Copyright and artificial intelligence. U.S. Copyright Office.