AI-created images lose U.S. copyrights in test for new technology
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[February 23, 2023]
By Blake Brittain
(Reuters) -Images in a graphic novel that were created using the
artificial-intelligence system Midjourney should not have been granted
copyright protection, the U.S. Copyright Office said in a letter seen by
Reuters.
"Zarya of the Dawn" author Kris Kashtanova is entitled to a copyright
for the parts of the book Kashtanova wrote and arranged, but not for the
images produced by Midjourney, the office said in its letter, dated
Tuesday.
The decision is one of the first by a U.S. court or agency on the scope
of copyright protection for works created with AI, and comes amid the
meteoric rise of generative AI software like Midjourney, Dall-E and
ChatGPT.
The Copyright Office said in its letter that it would reissue its
registration for "Zarya of the Dawn" to omit images that "are not the
product of human authorship" and therefore cannot be copyrighted.
The Copyright Office had no comment on the decision.
Kashtanova on Wednesday called it "great news" that the office allowed
copyright protection for the novel's story and the way the images were
arranged, which Kashtanova said "covers a lot of uses for the people in
the AI art community."
Kashtanova said they were considering how best to press ahead with the
argument that the images themselves were a "direct expression of my
creativity and therefore copyrightable."
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REUTERS/Andrew Kelly
Midjourney general counsel Max Sills said the decision was "a great
victory for Kris, Midjourney, and artists," and that the Copyright
Office is "clearly saying that if an artist exerts creative control
over an image generating tool like Midjourney ...the output is
protectable."
Midjourney is an AI-based system that generates images based on text
prompts entered by users. Kashtanova wrote the text of "Zarya of the
Dawn," and Midjourney created the book's images based on prompts.
The Copyright Office told Kashtanova in October it would reconsider
the book's copyright registration because the application did not
disclose Midjourney's role.
The office said on Tuesday that it would grant copyright protection
for the book's text and the way Kashtanova selected and arranged its
elements. But it said Kashtanova was not the "master mind" behind
the images themselves.
"The fact that Midjourney's specific output cannot be predicted by
users makes Midjourney different for copyright purposes than other
tools used by artists," the letter said.
(Reporting by Blake Brittain in WashingtonEditing by David Bario and
Sandra Maler)
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