A Japanese comic book comprising 100 pages, illustrated solely by AI technology, hit the market in March 2023. The unique aspect of this comic series is that the creator openly confessed to lacking artistic skills but managed to finish the project within six weeks just by inputting descriptive keywords into the AI, which visualized his characters.
Earlier, in 2022, the art world buzzed over “Théâtre D’opéra Spatial,” an AI-generated painting by a user named Jason Allen, which won a top art prize in Colorado, USA. This painting, a vibrant and lifelike creation by the AI program Midjourney, begs the question of true authorship: is it Allen or the software?
Reuters reported in 2023 that the US Copyright Office issued a graphic novel “Zarya of the Dawn” by Kris Kashtanova copyright for the text and layout but not the AI-generated images. This decision marks one of the first by a US body defining the copyright limits for AI creations.
Currently, global copyright law is yet to catch up with AI’s commonplace use. AP cites legal expert Ronald Wong, who emphasizes that AI creations lack a clear definition and are not yet recognized for copyright purposes like human-authored works.
Authors Phan Ngoc Trâm and Nguyễn Lư Tấn Giang, from the Law School at Ho Chi Minh City University of Economics, suggest that acknowledging the AI programmer, the AI user, or the AI itself as the legal author are among the main perspectives to consider. While some countries recognize the first standpoint, the latter two lack formal legislation.
The growing capabilities of AI in everyday life, from driving to caregiving, and now artistic creation, challenge the traditional notion of human exclusivity in authorship. The participation of AI in producing competitive works of art urges a legal reevaluation: should AI be recognized as an author, and can it hold rights under existing laws? This remains an open question for the legal and intellectual property fields.
Key Questions and Answers:
1. Can AI-generated works be copyrighted, and who should be considered the author?
Currently, the legal landscape is not fully equipped to handle copyright questions for AI-generated works. In many jurisdictions, authorship and originality are linked to human creation. AI-generated works raise questions about whether to recognize the machine, the machine’s operator, or the programmer as the author, or to devise a new category altogether.
2. How does the use of AI in art challenge existing copyright laws?
AI-generated art challenges definitions of originality and creativity, which are central to copyright law. With AI’s ability to synthesize and create new works based on previous data, it becomes difficult to delineate where human input ends and AI creation begins, complicating copyright claims.
3. What are the implications of recognizing AI as an author or copyright holder?
Recognizing AI as an author or holder of copyright would require a significant shift in legal thinking and possibly the drafting of new legislation. It would also raise practical issues, such as how to enforce rights and manage the benefits or royalties from AI-created works.
Key Challenges or Controversies:
The controversy surrounding AI and copyright mainly stems from the following:
– Attribution: Determining whether the credit should go to the AI, the user providing inputs, or the developers of the AI software.
– Originality: Deciding what constitutes originality in the context of AI, where outputs often depend on pre-existing data and algorithms.
– Economic Rights: Assessing who should benefit financially from the AI-created works, especially when such works can be produced at a scale and speed not possible for humans.
– Moral Rights: Addressing if and how moral rights, such as the integrity of the work or the right to be recognized as the author, apply to AI creations.
Advantages and Disadvantages:
Advantages of including AI within the realm of copyright include increased artistic production, democratization of art creation, and potential legal innovations. AI can significantly reduce the barriers to entry for content creation, enabling wider participation in cultural and creative domains.
Disadvantages involve the dilution of human authorship, potential for copyright infringement at unprecedented scales, and the threat to the livelihoods of human artists and creators. Recognizing AI in copyright law may also result in new forms of exploitation and manipulation by powerful entities that control these technologies.
For more information on copyright law, you may visit the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) at WIPO or the United States Copyright Office at US Copyright Office. Please note that these links lead to the main domain and not to subpages.
The source of the article is from the blog maltemoney.com.br